


Half Asleep

by crushinator



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Big Bang Challenge, Eldritch Horrors, F/M, First Love, Friendship, Growing Up, Multi, Self-Sacrifice, Talking It Out Like Adults, second love, series continuation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:28:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 82,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24544657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crushinator/pseuds/crushinator
Summary: Five years after the Hundred-Year War, Fire Lord Zuko is hit with an assassin's dart, and falls into a coma from which he cannot wake. A week passes, and his prognosis is grim. But Katara could swear she hears him in her dreams.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 68
Kudos: 428





	1. Wood

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I wrote this 10 years ago for the first Avatar Big Bang. In celebration of ATLA's debut on Netflix (and after a very kind review from andromeda3116 that turned me into a bean that only screams), I'm re-posting this fic here from fanfiction dot net. Thanks for reading after all this time.

Katara dragged the sleeve of water up and down the back of Zuko's left wrist with efficient, practiced strokes. She was good at this. She could heal most injuries, even if she'd never spent much time in the healing hut with Yugoda. What mattered was what she'd learned on the battlefield. She could heal a knife wound. She could urge broken veins to link back together. She could ease someone's skin from blisters back to smooth flesh. She could draw out poison. Concentrating hard, she shut her eyes and let the water ease its way into the miniscule pinprick above his pulse. The water crept under his skin in search of something she suspected was no longer there. But every day for a week she'd tried to find it anyway. What was it that Zuko was so fond of saying? Never give up without a fight? She would have smiled if the situation hadn't been so tense. The anxious stares from Iroh and the attending physician were enough to quell any mirth on her part. She'd have to remember to tell Zuko about it when he woke up.

If she opened the web of her waterbending just a little, she could feel the blood within him like she felt water, though she couldn't move it without the power of the full moon behind her. Just sensing it, however, told her everything she needed. She eased the water back out of him and bent it into a nearby basin to be disposed of.

"Nothing," she said, dragging the back of her hand across her forehead. "There's nothing. No poison, no sickness, nothing. I don't know why he's still unconscious like this, but it's not related to the dart that assassin stuck him with."

Iroh let out a long breath. She hated to see his shoulders sag like that, like he'd been defeated. Even in his disappointment he had a smile for her, though, which made it much worse.

"You've done all you can," he said, patting her on the shoulder.

"I know I have," she snapped, then collected herself. "Sorry. I'm just frustrated. The poison's gone, and I know there's nothing wrong with him internally, but it's like he's not even trying to get better."

"You and I both know that my nephew does not give up so easily." He squeezed her shoulder. "Come. You have done more than enough for him already. It's time for you to consider some rest."

"It's not like I can sleep anyway," she muttered.

"Pardon?"

She shook her head and got to her feet. "Nothing. Rest sounds like a great idea."

"I am glad to hear it."

He placed his hand on the small of her back, evidently intending to escort her, but she pulled away to lean over and smooth Zuko's sheets.

"Someone needs to change these," she said.

"I will see to it," said the attending physician with a salute.

"And he needs a shave."

Iroh smiled at her a second time. "The barber will be in to take care of him tomorrow morning. Come. No more fussing. You must leave that to me."

She finally allowed Iroh to lead her away, though not before ordering the physician to perform hourly checks on Zuko throughout the night. It would be the first night since she'd arrived in the palace, windswept and determined, that she'd be sleeping somewhere other than next to Zuko's bed on a pallet of blankets.

"I'm still not used to seeing him like this," she said as Iroh walked her through the doors. "He's always been so... driven."

"That is a most polite way of saying high-strung."

She gave a weak laugh. The guards outside Zuko's room bowed to the both of them as they passed. The moment they entered the hallway she closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath. The fresh air was a great improvement over the incense the Fire Sages insisted on burning by their Fire Lord's bed at all hours. When she opened her eyes again, she spotted Mai across the hall, leaning against a pillar with her arms folded across her chest.

"So how is he?" she asked. Her face was placid as ever, but her hands were tight on her sleeves.

"He is much the same," said Iroh. "No better, but no worse. Perhaps if you went to see him-"

"No." Her silk robes rustled and she turned to Katara. "So is your water helping at all?"

Katara frowned. "It's keeping him alive, if that's what you mean."

"But he's still not awake. Great."

"Wow Mai. Your gratitude is overwhelming. I might blush."

Mai narrowed her eyes. Katara glared back. After a few seconds of this, Mai squeezed her eyes shut, pinched the bridge of her nose, and sighed.

"I know you're keeping him alive, and that you're doing the best you can to get him through this stupid coma. And I'm grateful for it. I'm just... stressed. My head's been throbbing nonstop since I got up today."

"That makes two of us," Katara grumbled. "Here." She uncorked her waterskin. "Let me see if I can help."

Mai raised an eyebrow, but bowed her head. Katara drew a thick stream of water from her skins and split it into two streams. Then she pressed the water to Mai's temples until it began to glow bright blue. Mai seemed to relax a little under the treatment. She at least stopped frowning.

"Thanks," she said when Katara drew back. "I feel a lot less awful now."

Iroh clapped his hands together, causing Katara to jump. "Astonishing. After I have signed tomorrow's mountain of paperwork, maybe I will ask you to remove the awful crick in my neck it gives me."

Katara smiled and eased the bending water back into its flask. "Sure, if Zuko can spare me tomorrow."

"It's been a week. It's not like he'll be waking up any time soon," said Mai.

"You don't know that."

Mai raised one thin, dark eyebrow. "Neither do you."

Katara put her hands on her hips. "This is ridiculous. He's going to wake up because there's nothing wrong with him. I know he's still in there somewhere. He's just... lost. It's up to us to show him the way home."

Mai snorted, and Katara felt the color rise in her face. "If he's lost, I'll have someone draw him a map." She straightened, and looked around the hallway, though for what, Katara didn't know. When she didn't find it, she tucked her hands into her sleeves and sighed. "This is dull. I'm going to bed. Send someone to come get me if he..." She trailed off, then shook her head. "Nevermind. Goodnight."

She nodded to Iroh and Katara, then walked down the hallway, her robes trailing behind her.

When she was out of sight, Katara turned to Iroh and shook her head. "I really don't understand her."

Iroh gave her a sympathetic pat on the back. "Mai is an efficient person. She is grieving for him in her own way, before what she sees as inevitable takes her by surprise."

"That's ridiculous. He's going to be fine."

Iroh paused for a moment. When he spoke again, his tone was delicate. "I believe my nephew will recover as well. But because both he and Mai have not lived easy lives, both of them expect the worst and have taught themselves never to hope for the best."

"They must be so happy together," she grumbled.

"Yes," Iroh replied, without irony. "They have been good for each other. They've laughed a great deal."

She raised an eyebrow. "Mai? Zuko? Laughing? I can't really picture that."

"You would be surprised." With a wide smile, Iroh offered her his arm. "Would you kindly allow this old man to escort you to your room?"

She laid her hand on his outstretched elbow. "You're not old."

"Tell that to my creaking joints. Getting up in the morning should not be so noisy!"

She laughed, then sighed, and tightened her grip on his arm. "I'm glad you're on my side, at least. I feel like you're the only other one here who doesn't think he's going to die," she said.

"Because of the war, there are more pessimists here in the Fire Nation than there once were. Those who suffered learned to not let themselves feel hope." He covered her hand with his and gave it a squeeze. "But you and I have not yet learned that life lesson, it seems."

In her mind's eye, she saw Zuko rise from the mists of the Western Air Temple on the top of a military blimp after he'd been thrown into the abyss. She saw him grip the guard rail of a balcony and heard him tell her his money was his to use as he pleased, and if he wanted to give it away he damned well would. She saw him hand her a bowl full of palm wine over a fire, saw her fingertips brush his in the passing and come away sticky with sugar. Then, she imagined him dead in white burial robes, his arms folded across his chest, being loaded into another kind of fire. She pushed the thought away as hard as she could.

"Ah, here we are," said Iroh. "The Princess' Room."

They stopped before a tall set of red-lacquer doors flanked by one guard. Normally, Katara would have argued about having someone guard her while she slept (she could very well take care of herself, thank you), but the past few days had taken their toll. She'd argue about it in the morning.

"It still feels weird to stay in Azula's old room," she said as she stifled a yawn.

"The room doesn't care who sleeps in it. I think the guard does, though. It will be nice for her to watch over someone who is unlikely to set her on fire."

The guard coughed into her fist and blushed. Iroh grinned and raised his eyebrows at her.

"How is Azula?" asked Katara. She wasn't just saying it to be polite. In a strange way, Katara felt sorry for the mad girl who used to be her most dangerous foe. Knowing that the once proud Princess of the Fire Nation had been reduced to chains, drugged tea, and strait jackets didn't satisfy Katara like she once thought it would.

"The doctors have written that she is showing signs of improvement. She has been sleeping through the night for the first time in five years. She has also started collecting moonflowers. And you know what? She hasn't set a single one on fire! I am thinking of asking them to set aside a garden for her. Perhaps the exercise will teach her caring where my brother taught her hate."

She thought of Azula's pointed nails as she shot Aang with lightning and severely doubted that. "Maybe so," she said.

"Now, are you certain that you won't be joining me for an evening snack? I could use the good company."

She shook her head. "I can't. Right now I really need to sleep. Thank you for inviting me, though."

Iroh squeezed her hand. "Then I will see you at breakfast. Sleep well, Miss Katara."

"You too."

Before she could go, Iroh surprised her by engulfing her in a spine-cracking hug. She could feel his heart beating slowly in his chest. If she held still, she could feel him trembling a little.

"My nephew is very lucky to have you as his friend," he whispered in her ear.

A stone settled on her shoulders. "Yeah. Lucky."

* * *

The air of the swamp was a hot, wet shroud. Her hair clung to the back of her neck and her arms where her skin was bare, and it itched where it touched her. All over, she felt the slow trickle of sweat that couldn't evaporate in the saturated heat.

"Katara!"

There it was. She whipped around to find the source of the call but only saw a flock of strange, dark, misshapen birds take flight in alarm. They shrieked as they wove around the floating clumps of leaves that hung in the strange, yellow sky.

"Katara!"

"Zuko!" She shouted. "Zuko! Where are you?"

"Katara!" His voice was muffled now, as if it were coming from behind a wall.

She began to run towards his voice, stumbling on unseen rocks and twisted tree roots and wading through pools of water when she could find no footholds. A thick fog rose around her. Before long, she couldn't see more than a few feet in front of her. Somewhere just beyond the fog, though, she thought she could see someone.

"Don't move! I'm almost there!"

The fog swallowed her words. A twig snapped, and with cold horror, she realized that there was someone behind her. It wasn't Zuko.

* * *

She opened her eyes as suddenly as if a firecracker had gone off in her room. Just like in her dream, her hair clung to her skin where she'd perspired in her sleep. She groaned and pushed it out of her face. Her throat was scratchy and dry. What time was it? She sat up, took a deep breath, and reached out with her bending. There were no windows in the princess' room, which Iroh had explained was a cautionary measure against would-be kidnappers or assassins. This wasn't a problem in a culture that revolved around the cycles of the sun, but for Katara, who lived by the moon, it took a bit of concentration to determine its position in the sky with no visual reference.

There it was. Near the horizon, very bright and low in the sky. She groaned again. It was well past midnight. She hated waking up before dawn. It meant hours of moon-induced wakefulness followed by maybe an hour or two of fitful sleep. And with Iroh's breakfast scheduled so early, there wasn't even a chance of the sleep part.

"Why do firebenders have to rise with the sun?" she grumbled, pulling on the blue silk robe Iroh had given her. She tied it at the waist and slid on some slippers. If she was going to be awake, she might as well be comfortable, she thought. And comfort started with some water and a light snack, followed by bending practice.

"I'm going- oh."

That special awkwardness that only comes at three in the morning when there's nothing to distract you slid into the pit of her stomach and coiled there like a fat worm. It had been more than a year since she shared her bed with Aang, and they'd stopped being intimate even longer before that. She still remembered the shape of his head on her pillow, round as a snowball and five times as big, and the way he'd rest his hand on her waist like he couldn't believe she was actually there. Only now, she wasn't. And neither was he.

She shook her head. No. She wasn't going to waste her time dwelling on it.

She padded across the room, and the floor loudly creaked with each step. Another security measure, Iroh had told her. Another annoying security measure, she'd added to herself. Her guard saluted her as she opened the door to the hallway.

"Evening, Lady Katara," she said. "Anything I can get for you? You shouldn't be out of bed at this hour."

Katara waved her hand. "No, I'm fine. Just going to the kitchens to get a bite to eat. The moon was full yesterday, so when I'm up, I'm up."

The guard looked politely puzzled.

"Waterbender," she explained.

The guard bowed. "If you say so, miss."

She bowed back and continued on her way, down the hallway and around the corner until she reached the intersection that would take her to the kitchens. A warm night breeze drifted in through the huge courtyard windows. At least there was some ventilation in the royal quarters, she thought. Through the partially opened slats, which were stained a dark red-brown and covered with cracks, she could see silhouettes of ancient pines and young buds on the sun-cherry trees stirring in counterpoint to one another in the dim pre-dawn glow. Spring was always early in the Fire Nation. It was a beautiful night, even if she wished she could be sleeping through it.

She turned towards the kitchens and nodded sleepily to a group of servants with armfuls of bedsheets. A few nodded back, though some were too preoccupied to reciprocate. Her path took her past the quarters of the rest of the royal family: Iroh in the Crown Prince's room, Mai in the Fire Lady's, and Zuko in the Fire Lord's. Warm yellow light shone through the crack under Iroh's door. She remembered him saying to her at lunch that day that being the Fire Lord was a true full time job.

"And by full," he'd said, "I mean that it occupies your every waking moment, and most of your sleeping ones. At least the Jasmine Dragon can be trusted in the hands of my staff if I wish to take a well-deserved vacation."

Since it was Iroh, though, she fully expected him to be the first person at the breakfast table, as bright and refreshed as if he'd slept nine hours. She smiled to herself and passed the Fire Lady's room, which was dark, and began the trek past the Fire Lord's, when she stopped.

A very strange sound tickled at the edge of her hearing. It was as a great wind were causing a forest of trees to bend, except that there was no whoosh of wind, only the creaking and groaning of old wood. Frowning, she took a few steps forward. Yes, it was definitely stronger. There was also another layer to the sound. She couldn't quite place that one, though she knew she'd heard it before. She took a few more steps forward and concentrated. Dread welled up in her chest like hot lead. She was running now, full tilt, the train of her robe flapping behind her.

"Get out of the way!" she shouted to the two men guarding Zuko's room.

"Lady Katara?"

She pushed past the guards, who offered no resistance. She cursed herself for not having any bending water on hand. What had she been thinking? Concentrating, she drew water from the air around her until both her hands were coated in glowing blue gloves.

"Open the door," she ordered.

One of the men looked as if he wanted to argue, but he bowed his head, and carefully unlatched the door.

The minute she stepped over the threshold, the other noise, the one she couldn't identify, stopped, and the wood sound became a cacophony of ugly, wet groans. She clapped her hands to her ears and her water splashed to the floor. Then, it was utterly silent. No noise, no movement, just the steady drift of incense smoke.

"Lady Katara, are you well?"

"I- I thought I was. Didn't you hear that?"

She looked to her left, then to her right, and saw nothing out of place. Iroh's flowers were still on the night stand, the papers that Zuko had laid aside just before his last walk were still in the same half-disheveled state, and the drawn curtains around the bed hung still.

Behind her, the guards shared a glance. "Hear what?"

Katara frowned. "Don't move. I'm going to check on Zuko."

She gently pushed the curtains aside, only to find Zuko as she left him, sleeping peacefully, his breathing low and deep. She checked his pulse. It was normal. His sheets weren't even wrinkled. Simultaneous senses of relief and confusion flooded through her. Nothing had happened. Everything was fine. But what had she heard, then?

"Everything seems okay," she said, trying and failing to keep the skepticism out of her voice. "Could you let me know if you hear anything later?"

But as she stood, something odd tickled her sense of smell. While the elder of the guards clicked his heels and saluted her, she stepped away from the bed, took a deep breath, and gagged.

There was no mistaking it. Under the smoky-sweet scent of incense was the sickly odor of a rotting meat.


	2. Ether

Iroh set his teacup onto the table with a soft clink. He and Katara sat across from one another at a low table, the remains of their breakfast scattered between them.

"You haven't been getting much sleep lately," he said. "Are you sure you are not hearing things?"

"I know what I heard," insisted Katara. "I don't care if the guards didn't hear it; it was there. And there's no way you can explain away the smell. People don't hallucinate smells like that."

"I disagree. I used to smell bananas during my headaches as a younger man, but to my disappointment, they were never anywhere to be found."

He chuckled to himself. Katara narrowed her eyes and the corners of her mouth twitched downward.

"I believe you, though," Iroh hastily added.

She sighed and smoothed down her tunic with both hands. "I know, I'm sorry- I feel like everyone's been looking at me like I'm crazy. One of the guards actually told me I was being hysterical."

"Ah. I'd wondered how Corporal Teng managed to get frozen to the door."

"I unfroze him! After a while."

He waved his hand. "He is a good man, but he is not quick to understand subtleties. And I think what we are dealing with in here runs far deeper than what Teng can or cannot hear. Tea?"

She nodded, and he refilled her cup.

"Are you sure no one can overhear us?" she asked.

He topped off his own cup and set the teapot on a pile of unfurled scrolls. "There is no one here but the two of us. And if someone were to try and listen in, I think they would need to be wood-benders. The walls are very thick."

"Good."

Iroh swirled the tea in his glass, watching it as the stray leaves collided with one another. One stem floated straight up for a moment, then sank to the bottom of the glass. Iroh frowned.

"At this point, neither of us can answer why my nephew cannot wake. But there is one mystery I think you alone can help me solve."

Her grip tightened on her cup. "Oh? What's that?"

"How did you know my nephew was in danger when we had not yet allowed the news to escape the palace walls?"

She remembered how she'd forced her way into the palace, waterbending a path through it when she'd been denied passage and gathering a huge crowd of pursuers in the process. She'd practically broken down the door to Zuko's room and demanded to be allowed to heal him. It had taken Iroh himself to quell the guard and order the gaping doctors to stand aside and let her work. She'd thought it odd then that he did not ask how she knew Zuko was in danger, but had been thankful for it. There were few things in the world she wanted to do less than to explain herself out of that situation. Particularly when there were so many people present. Her dreams, and Zuko's presence in them, were her own.

"I hope you can forgive an old man's curiosity. Anything you could share on this subject can only be helpful. Even that which seems most fleeting."

She let her cup go and put her hands in her lap. "Are you asking me about my dreams?"

"Am I?"

At least there was no one else around to overhear, she thought. "Dreams are important to us. The Water Tribes, I mean. You probably already knew that, though."

"On the occasion that I have been fortunate enough to greet the dawn with a member of your tribe, we have discussed the subject."

"I-" she closed her mouth and frowned. "What do you mean by 'greet the dawn?' Wait, no, never mind. I don't want to know."

Iroh chuckled. She took a long drink of her tea, which had finally cooled enough to drink. It was delicate and grassy. She lowered her half-drained cup and cradled it in her lap.

"The first time I had one I woke up knowing that he was in danger." She winced. "Okay, that sounds like something out of a romance scroll. But I don't know how else to put it."

Iroh nodded gravely, but she saw a twinkle in his eye. "There is no shame in referencing the classics when one is at a loss for words."

"They're always the same," she continued. "I'm in this swamp. It's sort of like Foggy Swamp, with big, thick, old trees and vines everywhere. It always feels like I've been there before. Even the first time. Like..." she searched for an appropriate comparison. "Like going to Gran-Gran's tent, I guess, or one of the old settlements back home. I hear someone calling to me, and I know for sure that it's Zuko. And I know he's in trouble. Even if I can't hear him very well. I look for him, but I can't find him because of the fog or it's too dark under the trees or... something. There's always something. But I don't give up, because he wouldn't, if it were me. Then, when I feel like I'm getting close, I know someone's behind me. I know, like I know that it's Zuko who's trying to find me. But I can't turn around. Then I wake up."

Iroh shuddered. "That is... most unsettling."

Katara drained the last of her tea and set the glass on the table. She laid her hands one across the other and thought about how it felt in her dreams when she almost reached him, only to be yanked back to the waking world as if by a long rope. "Sometimes I think I see him. But he's always insubstantial. Like he's made of smoke. It's hard to explain."

"I am wondering. Can you bend in these dreams?"

"No. Not even a water whip. Why?"

Iroh sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I am not sure my nephew ever told you this, but many years ago, when I was... an angrier person, I spent a great deal of time in the Spirit World." He smiled and raised both bushy eyebrows. "I was not always so wise and judicious."

Katara rolled her eyes and laughed. "That's hard to believe."

"It's true! I am far more of a dragon now than I ever pretended to be in my youth. The Spirit World has a way of changing a person." He tucked his hands into his sleeves and grew serious again. "But this is troubling. Your description of the place you go in your dreams is too similar to my own experience as a younger man. And your strange encounter this morning has the clear stamp of a spirit on it. I am afraid that my nephew may be trapped in the Spirit World."

A shivery, tight feeling settled in her chest. She ran her fingers along the rim of her teacup, unable to sit still. All her experiences with the Spirit World had been in the context of something going horribly wrong in the physical one. Hei-Bai, the Spirit Oasis, Aang's transformation into La, the rash of disappearances all over the world in the aftermath of the Hundred Year War, all of them had succeeded in impressing upon her the serious consequences of crossing the unknowable rules that marked the boundaries of that place. A place with which she had little to no experience outside of being a witness.

In her time with Aang, Katara had seen him go into the Spirit World only a few times. It was always at a place of power, like the Spirit Oasis at the North Pole or Hei Bai's forest, or during a solstice or equinox, when the barrier between the two worlds was thin. When he entered the meditation state necessary for the crossing, he could be gone for hours, or only seconds. Time was strange there, he said. To him, his journey through the Spirit World during the Siege of the North had only taken a few hours. For her, it was nearly twenty four of them. If that were true, how long had it been for Zuko? Seconds? Minutes? Days? Years?

"We have to get him out of there," she said.

Iroh smiled. "I had hoped you would volunteer. It spares me the indignity of asking you to go in my place."

"Of course I'm volunteering," she said, briskly, then the weight of what Iroh said hit her like a wall of earth. "Wait, you're not coming?"

Iroh shook his head. The quality of his smile changed, and Katara thought she could see something wistful there. "If I leave, who will take care of the Fire Nation? The old war horses on the council who still dream of the days the Fire Nation ran the world? No; I must stay. My absence would be too tempting a target for those who dream of putting my brother back on the throne."

 _Or his daughter_ , Katara thought, but didn't say.

"Who was it that sent the assassin after my nephew? The Chief Advisor suggests that my brother's supporters had something to do with it, but I am not so sure. There are too many vipers here who would see my nephew fail based on his actions during the war alone. The one who did it disappeared in the crowd. I cannot tell you how much I..."

His smile faltered. For the first time, Katara realized how many more lines had appeared on Iroh's face since the last time she saw him, at the dedication of the Southern Waterbending Academy. Then, he had been as boisterous and excitable as he'd always been, peddling tea and flirting with anyone who stopped to sample his wares. Master Pakku had been singularly displeased at his ability to charm Gran-Gran. Lately, though, all Iroh had was edicts, politics, and worry.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Zuko is as good as my son. I would do anything to help him. But I cannot do this. If I do, everything he has worked for could be burnt to ashes."

Katara bit her lip, released it. "How am I going to get there without you, though? I've never been to the Spirit World on purpose before. That was always... Aang's... thing." She stopped. "Aang. I'm going to have to ask Aang to help me."

Iroh gave her a small smile. "He is, I believe, the only one who can. I would not have advised you to travel alone. The Spirit World is a dangerous place for those who are not familiar with it."

"I think I knew that was what it was going to come down to," she said. She laughed, but it was a thin sound. "I didn't think I was going to see him again so soon after... so soon."

The last time she saw Aang, he was in the South Pole. It had been snowing, and she remembered very clearly the way the snowflakes melted as they fell on his uncovered head. He hadn't looked back as he shouldered his pack and disappeared into the white air. No matter how she shouted after him.

Iroh reached across the table to pat her hand. "I know what things are like between the two of you, but I am not sorry that it has come to this. Love changes; it does not die when it has been grown in such a fertile bed as friendship."

"What? Oh. It's not like that," she said. "It'll be good to see him again. Him and Toph." She ran her fingers through her hair. It was tangled near the base of her neck; she'd have to brush it later. "Do you know what time it is? I promised I'd visit the hospital sometime today, and if I'm leaving tomorrow, I'm going to need to find a waterbender to take over for me while I'm gone. No offense, but firebenders can't exactly force food down someone's throat without destroying it in the process."

Iroh raised both his eyebrows. "None taken. You are leaving tomorrow?"

"As soon as I can. Can I borrow a messenger hawk? I'm going to need to write Aang and let him know what's up or he'll be pretty surprised to see me." She stood and brushed her blue robes free of wrinkles. "Last time I got a letter from him and Toph they were in the Earth Kingdom, so all I have to do really is tell them which port to be at when I get off the boat."

Iroh rose as well. He sidled up to Katara and gently placed a palm at the small of her back. "I have just the bird for you. He's a curious creature we found roosting in our southern farmlands, along the banks of the Kazan River. He does not answer to any name we have given him, but he is fast, and he always remembers where to go. You will like him, I think."

Her mind was awash in questions that she couldn't answer. She barely even heard Iroh going on about the finer points of hawk training and the great joy he took in visiting with certain birds. How did Zuko get stuck in the Spirit World in the first place? And why did he appear to her, of all people? The only vaguely spiritual experience she'd had in her life was seeing the ghost of her mother in Foggy Swamp, and that had turned out to be a dead tree. She remembered Yue stepping into the water of the Spirit Oasis. Even then she'd been a spectator. What could she hope to accomplish in the Spirit World?

"I don't know what he thinks I can do if I can't even bend there," she said. "If some weird monster is holding him hostage it'd make more sense for him to call to Mai. She could at least use her senbon on it."

Iroh shook his head. "Perhaps my nephew is reaching out to the only person he knows will answer."

"That doesn't make sense," she said, frowning. "You would answer him. You're the first person he'd try to reach; I know it."

"Then perhaps he tried, and that route was sealed." Iroh nodded to a passing chambermaid, who blushed and quickened her pace. "I do not pretend to understand the Spirit World. In fact, I must profess that I know very little, despite my time there. The fact remains, however, that it is you who he has called. Only he can say why."

* * *

She headed straight for the hospital after Iroh showed her the way to the aviary. The waterbenders there were pleased to see her. Shila, an older healing waterbender with streaks of grey in her black hair and no-nonsense eyes, agreed to take over Katara's duties in the palace. As thanks, Katara spent the rest of the day helping the healing waterbenders and Fire Nation doctors with their work.

Ever since the Rice Riots ended and Zuko finally accepted the offer of aid from a few of the North Pole's healing waterbenders, health care had dramatically improved as they shared their methods with the doctors in the capital. She knew from his letters that he hoped to entice more healers to the Fire Nation in hopes that they would spread their expertise to less populated areas, but it was slow work. There was still a lot of animosity between the Fire Nation and the rest of the world, especially the Water Tribes. It was a hard sell to convince prosperous healers to leave the safety of their tribe for the suspicion and sometimes outright hostility of their former enemies' home. The rancor of some of the patients she'd personally dealt with was enough to give Katara a headache. She didn't know how the old men and women in the hospital got through it every day. More than once she'd had to stop herself from using the water-whip on an old soldier who told her she was trash and more besides while she was wrist-deep in his blood. Even that wasn't nearly as bad as the ones who were afraid of her.

Sometimes, though, when one of her patients' clenched fists relaxed and their insults stilled, she thought she might understand why the waterbenders did what they did.

Back in the palace, long after the sun had withdrawn its final rays from the lip of the extinct volcano, she was saluted by servants and nobles alike as she walked the corridors to Zuko's room. Occasionally she could make out whispering after she returned their salutes with a bow of her own, but even these minor forms of disrespect were occurring with less frequency every day. She supposed her ability in keeping their Fire Lord alive took away her inborn disadvantage of being a foreigner. She snickered. Maybe Zuko would make her a noble when he woke up for services rendered to the Fire Nation in a time of crisis. The look on some of the whisperers' faces alone would be worth it.

The guards at the door, a man and a woman, saluted her and let her in as usual. Save for those two, the rest of the corridor was already deserted, as the palace doctor didn't want to risk infection through over-crowding. Katara thought that keeping people away from Zuko was no way to encourage him to come out of his coma, but she had little control over what the doctors did when she wasn't there. With that grating thought in mind, she pushed the doors open with more force than usual. She was rewarded with a wall of incense smoke so thick it made her cough.

"Are they trying to suffocate you?" she gasped.

She uncapped her hip flask and made a thin wall of water to scoop up the smoke, which she then fed into the drain of the adjoining bathroom. The offending incense sticks were soon extinguished.

"Sorry, Zuko," she said, "But enough is enough. I know this incense thing means a lot to your Fire Sages, but you're not waking up with coal miner's cough."

He didn't answer. She often did this; talked to him as if he were awake. During the winter, sometimes hunters from her tribe would bring back men or women who had fallen in the cold, who had slept during a bad fever or a snowstorm, and had not woken. Since no one in her tribe remembered that water could heal, the elder would burn certain herbs, tend to the fever or clean out wounds, and he or she would sit with the sleeping person, chanting, singing, or telling stories. When she was a child, it was Gran-Gran. Their voices, she said, would act as a guideline, like the hunters would use when the snow got too thick and they couldn't see each other in the swirling whiteness. So Katara talked. She liked to think that he could hear her. It was difficult to be around him and not speak. Her mouth always needed to be as busy as her hands.

After refilling her waterskin with water from the sink, she performed her routine checks on him. No new injuries, no bruises, he was being rotated often enough to avoid bedsores, his sheets and robes were clean, his pulse regular.

"Good. You look good. Not as good as you used to, but still, really good for someone in a coma." She winced. "Pretend you didn't hear that."

His hair was getting long. She'd liked that he'd broken with tradition and kept it short, for a Fire Lord, but it was still just long enough to put up into a topknot when the occasion called for it. She brushed the hair out of his eyes and tucked it behind his ear.

"I'm going away for a while. I know I promised a longer visit, but circumstances being what they are..." she trailed off. "Shila from the hospital said she'd look after you while I'm gone. So don't think I'm abandoning you. I don't abandon people. And I won't abandon you. I'll be back."

She watched him for a few moments. His eyes moved under his eyelids. She supposed he was dreaming, somewhere in there.

"You know those dreams we've been having? It would help if you gave me a little more details. So less mystic fog and shouting my name and more explaining next time, okay?" She paused as if waiting for response. "A map would be nice, too. Otherwise how do you expect me to rescue you?"

No answer. She lifted his wrist to her lap and laid her fingers on the hollow just under the base of his thumb. His hands had already grown soft from disuse. She still remembered the roughness of his grip as his hands closed around her wrists, how thick the pads of his fingers were on her skin. She traced his lifeline with her fingertips.

"Aang's going to help. He doesn't know it yet, but he's going to. To tell you the truth, I'm a little nervous about seeing him again. You know how bad our breakup was. The things we said to each other you can't pretend away."

His hand twitched in her lap. "I'm going to do this. I'm going to find you. Whatever stupid Spirit World demigod or fog monster or whatever has you, I'm going to take it down and bring you back. You're my..." she swallowed. "You've always trusted me when things got tough. So trust me on this. I'll find you. But I guess you already knew that."

There was a creak outside the doors, and a soft exchange of voices. Katara looked over her shoulder to see who it was, and then snatched her hand away from Zuko as fast as if he had suddenly changed into a cookfire.

"Mai!" she said, jumping to her feet. "What are you doing here? It's late."

Mai raised one silky eyebrow. "I could ask you the same thing."

The door shut behind her, throwing her into the dim glow of candlelight. Her long black hair was loose instead of up in her usual style. Katara guessed that she'd just come from her room. She thought she looked very young and elegant that way, like a glass doll, though she'd never say it aloud.

"Couldn't sleep," she lied. "You?"

The floor creaked in protest as Mai walked across it to stand beside Katara. "I came to say goodbye. Though it's not like he'll hear me, so I don't know why I'm bothering."

"What?" squeaked Katara. "You're leaving? Why?"

"I was supposed to leave a week ago, actually, but someone had to fall into a coma and make it inconvenient for me."

"Inconvenient?" Katara's voice rose an octave with each syllable of that word.

Mai rolled her eyes. "Oh, calm down. You know I wasn't implying anything."

"You shouldn't say things like that," said Katara. "It's not like he can help it."

"I know."

She wrapped her robe tighter around herself and stood still, watching Zuko breathe. He didn't seem to be bothered by the quiet, but Katara grew more uncomfortable with each passing second. She felt somehow like she was intruding on something.

"So... where are you going?" Katara asked, unable to stand it any longer.

"Not that it's any of your business, but the Earth Kingdom. I'm supposed to be negotiating a treaty with the Earth King right now. A week ago, actually. King Kuei was kind enough to put things on hold until I was ready to join him. You can't stop politics, though."

"I didn't know you were an ambassador."

"I'm not. I'm still just a plain old member of the nobility. But Zuko thinks I'm good at it for some reason."

Katara took in the placid expression on Mai's face and tried very hard not to laugh. "I can't imagine why."

"Ha ha. It gives me something to do, at least. And it means I don't have to go back home if I don't want to."

"Go home? But... why wouldn't you want to visit your family?"

Mai shook her head. "It doesn't matter. I'm going to bed now."

Katara blinked. What had just happened? "O... kay?"

Mai turned to face Katara. There was something searching about the look she gave. It was almost like being examined by a saber-tooth moose-lion after it had already eaten. You were no longer prey, so what were you?

"Take care of him," she finally said.

Katara looked at Zuko, then back at Mai. "Of course."

Mai tilted her head to one side, and gave something that was like the shadow of a smile. Katara tried to return it, but what came out was a bizarre grin that would have made a lion turtle laugh in derision. Mai, however, only nodded. Then she left. The wind from the closing doors made the candles flicker behind her.

* * *

She stood on a huge, exposed tree root, her hand resting against the trunk of the parent tree, which was thicker around the middle than six Appas. Under her bare hand she could feel age-worn bark, smooth and slick, and under that, the gentle vibration of water as it slowly climbed into the canopy. She'd never been in this particular place of what she now understood to be the Spirit World. The humidity was not as bad as it usually was, which was why, she guessed, that there was no fog. Or maybe it was that the root she stood on was tall enough that she could see the yellow horizon past the trees.

Distantly, she could see a disturbance along the treeline. She squinted her eyes and shaded them against the sun with one hand. When she understood what she was seeing, she had to look again just to be sure. And again.

A black silhouette of a man walked across the horizon as if it were a path. She knew what she was seeing was impossible, as each of his steps would take him hundreds of miles at a time, but there it was. And she knew, just as she knew her heart pumped blood and her hands bent water, that it was Zuko.

"Why me?" she shouted. "Why not your uncle, or Mai! Why not Aang! Answer me!"

'Answer me' echoed back to her five or six times before she stopped counting. Some great animal moaned somewhere below her, like a whale. For a moment, she was scared. What had she disturbed down there by shouting? The tree began to rhythmically shake. She braced her knees and slid into a bending stance. And with cold horror, she remembered that you couldn't bend in the Spirit World.

"You can't even hear me, can you? How am I supposed to find you if we can't even talk to each other?"

It seemed to come from her own head. Zuko's voice, tinny and thin, from the other end of a long tunnel, poured into her mind.

"It's always you," he said. "Wake up."

* * *

A long trail of drool followed Katara's head as she snapped awake. She wiped it from her mouth and looked around the room. Had she fallen asleep? A lone candle was still burning low in its basin. The others had burned down to their bases, and red wax had pooled all around them, some even dripping onto the floor. As her shroud of confusion lifted, she remembered that she'd laid her head down on the edge of her desk for a moment, thinking that she'd take a quick nap. Judging from the candles, her nap had been a little more than a nap. There was a crick in her neck that she knew would bother her for the rest of the day, not to mention a knot on her lower back the size of a sea plum. She put her hands on her lower back and stretched, cracking her spine. The sound made her wince. She found herself wishing for a window in her room for the hundredth time.

Sighing, she stood up and felt the underside of her eyes. They were soft and papery, like powdered silk, and a bit puffy. Ever since she'd started losing sleep to dreams, the dark circles under her eyes had become a permanent feature of her face. Healing them helped only a little. The sad thing was that she was starting to get used to existing on only a few hours of sleep a night.

The letters on her desk, at least, were mostly finished. The ones to the Southern Waterbending Academy were ready to be sealed and sent. It was mostly business: inquiries after the upcoming class, which was set to reconvene in midsummer; instructions for the skeleton crew of teachers who elected to stay during the break and take care of the school; that sort of thing. The only unfinished letter was the one to Aang. It sat halfway completed, the inkpot open, very close to where she'd been 'resting her eyes.' She thought about sitting back down to finish it, but decided that particular task could at least wait until dawn. As it was, she needed some very strong tea if she wanted to make it that far without committing grievous acts of murder.

After procuring her tea from the kitchens, she decided to pass the rest of the morning practicing her waterbending at the pond in the royal gardens. There were new buds on most of the trees that shone pale pink and silver in the moonlight. A pale streak of light was just visible over the rooftops, dotted here and there with wisps of pink clouds and the shadows of trees. It was only an hour before dawn – a boon, considering how early she was lately jerked out of sleep. Even better, the courtyard was deserted. She smiled, drained her teacup, set it on a flat, well-worn rock, then stepped onto the water.

She slowly eased herself into a half-squatting position, palms outward. The water under her feet eased down with her movements, then up again as she made a scooping motion with one hand and drew a sinuous rope of water from the pond, where it hovered between her palms.

 _It's always you_. What did that mean? As she flowed through her forms, she couldn't keep those words from her mind. She rocked forward on one foot and let her leg stretch out behind her, lifting one arm and drawing the other back. Her water rope flattened into a ribbon and followed the motions of her hands. The water became a coil that wound around her arms. _It's always you_. Heat crept up her neck and onto her face. Her concentration faltered and one of her feet broke the surface of the water. She quickly righted herself, took a long, deep breath, and half-twisted her body so that her legs were bent at the knee and one arm was lifted up, palm out, and the other hovered at her waist.

 _There. Guide the water and let the water guide you. Don't think about anything else_. But as she began a slow pushing and pulling motion with her hands and her water became a small, controlled whirlpool, she couldn't stop herself from remembering a hot fire, a cold night, and an exchange of promises.

"No," she muttered, and fanned out her fingers, causing the whirlpool to elongate.

It was useless to think about it. He'd made his choice that night, just as she'd made hers. Only one of those choices didn't work out, did it?

She slowly stretched her upper body forward and spread her arms wide, as if she were parting a curtain. Then she lowered them, crossed them, and raised them to the sky. A spectacular sheet of water shot up all around her, then fell like rain.

Whatever he meant, whatever he couldn't tell her because of interfering spirits or the weird geometry of dreams or whatever, she was going to find him. He asked her to, after all. And damned if she was going to let him down. No matter what had happened in the past.

She stood on one leg, kicking the other one as high as it could go, and the surface tension of the water strained beneath her. Then she slid like a snake back down to the water, one leg folded beneath her and the other flush against the surface, and made a long, controlled scooping motion with one arm. She did this twice more, until the surface of the pond was decidedly below the water line, then up, the water a heavy globe that stretched as she passed it from hand to hand through the final seven forms. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, then slowly brought them apart, gently siphoning the borrowed water back into the pond.

Applause echoed through the courtyard. She looked up to see Iroh standing on the nearby wooden walkway, smiling broadly at her.

"It is a joy to see a master at work." said Iroh. "But unlike some masters, you bring beauty to everything you do."

She stepped off the pond and tucked her hair loopies behind her ears. "Iroh. Hi. You startled me. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in bed?"

He held out a scroll tube and some sealing wax. "I got up early to get the dragon-hawk ready for you. He's waiting in the aviary for your letters. Are they ready?"

She grimaced. "Almost. I've got one left. Can I have a few minutes to finish it?"

"Of course. But you must join me for breakfast in return." He held up one finger. "We're having striped saba, pickled fruit, and sticky rice. And I've managed to procure the most wonderful jasmine tea..."

* * *

The rest of the morning passed quickly. After breakfast, Katara only had a half hour to give the rest of her orders to the attending physician (one of them being a prohibition on burning more than one stick of incense at a time), make sure that Shila would have everything she needed to take care of Zuko in her place, attach her letters to a strangely familiar looking dragon-hawk, and to knock on Mai's door to say her goodbyes. When no one answered, however, she opened the door to find Mai's bed made and her trunk missing. None of the servants knew where she'd gone; only that she'd left a little past midnight.

At last, she stood at the docks, ready to board the ship that would take her to the Earth Kingdom, and Aang. It was a privately-owned merchant vessel, designed for speed and safety. The captain offered her a space in his crew the second he learned she was a waterbender. She was glad to have work while she traveled. When she had nothing to do, her mind had a tendency to rob her of what little sleep she could get.

Iroh took both her hands in his and squeezed them. "Go safely, and go wisely. Remember that you hold my heart in your hands. Lovely as they are, I would like my heart to come home when you are finished with it."

She didn't quite understand what he meant, but she nodded. "I promise I'll get him back."

Iroh smiled, and tucked a strand of her hair behind one ear. "I know you will. And when you come back, we can have a real visit."

The ship left the harbor with the tide. When she arrived in her cabin, she dropped her rucksack on her bed and dug through it. Sunlight poured into her room like honey. It seemed the universe had heard her wishes for a window, for she'd been granted the rare honor of an above-deck cabin, with a large, circular window covered with thick glass. The captain had assured her that she'd gotten the cabin out of luck (the below-deck quarters were full), but Katara suspected Iroh's hand at work.

She found what she'd been looking for. It was a sheaf of letters bound in old, dark blue leather. Many of them were from Sokka during his winters in Kyoshi or Toph by way of a transcriber or her father and Gran-Gran (there were even a few from Ty Lee), but a great deal of them were from Zuko. His last letter to her was on the top of the pile, crinkled around the edges and creased and re-creased from multiple readings. She curled up in an ornate bench that sat under her window and skimmed it until she found what she was looking for.

_...things are so hectic that I've been dreaming about work. Uncle says it's anxiety. He told me to talk to Mai about it, but she doesn't need my problems to deal with on top of everything that's happened lately._

__

__

_Sorry I'm being so vague. I know that drives you crazy. I'll tell you anything you want when you visit. I might have a lot to tell you if I'm right about Mai. The old, bad part of me hopes that I am. At least I think it's the bad part. You would know._

Her brows furrowed and she smoothed the page. One of the things she'd always liked about Zuko (whether he was trying to knock her down or help her find her mother's killer or teach Aang how to bend fire) was his frankness. She'd never had to squeeze the truth out of him or corner him or catch him in a lie. She'd been planning to ask him exactly what he'd meant by his cryptic letter as soon as she saw him (and tease the hell out of him for it if circumstances allowed), and she was sure he would have told her the truth then.

But then the dreams started, and it was too late.

The dreams. She shifted into a better position and frowned. Zuko said in his letter that he'd begun having dreams about work. She didn't think the two of them were directly connected, but it was too much of a coincidence that he'd been having recurring dreams right before he'd started appearing in hers. Probably. She folded the letter and tossed it onto her bed. She wished she knew more about these kinds of things. Spirits, dreams, creatures that went whoosh in the night. During those long winter nights when the old women would begin telling stories, she'd dozed off more often than not. Only a few stayed with her. Arviq Dreams the World, How La Became Wrathful, Wolf and the Raven-Woman. All of them involved dreams, but none of them were very instructive on what to do if a person kept appearing in yours. Maybe she'd write Gran-Gran and ask.

Or maybe not. She stood up and brushed off her clothes. For now, there was work to do on the ship. Her dreams could wait.

* * *

_Summer, ASC 100, Year of the Monkey_

Katara had never seen a sky like the one that hummed above her then. She was sure that it was night, sometime a few hours before dawn, but the comet made the sky a burnished orange fringed with acidic blue. The usually gentle wind sounded like an iron brush being dragged across glass.

"It looks like a nightmare," she said, and even her voice sounded somehow metallic.

Zuko grimaced. "It is."

"Even to the Fire Nation?"

"In a way it's more of a nightmare to us than the rest of the world."

Katara raised her eyebrow. "Oh?"

It took Zuko ten full seconds to realize what he'd said. "Wait! No! That's not what I meant! I was trying to say we've become something terrible, and that it's not what we really are, it's just my family, I didn't mean to imply-"

She laughed, drowning Zuko out. He stopped speaking and frowned.

"You did that on purpose."

She hugged herself and doubled over with laughter. "You are such a dork sometimes."

He mumbled something indistinct, but she was too busy being pleased with herself to care what it was. She knew him. If it was important, he'd tell her eventually.


	3. Fog

During her time on the ship, her dreams remained mostly the same. She still searched, Zuko still called for her, and she still couldn't find him before the thing she could never see - whatever it was - forced her out of the Spirit World. Whatever Zuko had done to answer her, she hoped he could do it again soon. She had a great deal to ask him.

A week into her voyage, she received a letter from Toph and Aang. They agreed to meet her in the port town of Ren-Chen, a small fishing town on the Northwest coast of the Earth Kingdom that was going through some changes. It had been a Fire Nation colony, once upon a time, which was the norm for most Earth Kingdom towns on the West coast, but after the war it had been given back to the Earth King and transformed into a port of trade between the two once at-odds nations. Aang wrote that he was there often, mediating disputes between former colonists and native Earth Kingdom inhabitants. Tensions weren't rare between those two groups, and it was the Avatar's job to keep the Avatar's peace. He also wrote that he was looking forward to seeing her. A great knot formed in her stomach. Toph's presence would probably be enough to keep things friendly, but she was worried all the same. She wished Sokka were with her.

Finally, the afternoon arrived, and the _Pink Snapdragon_ pulled into its final port. It was a bright, clear day, and shouts echoed throughout the marketplace that clustered around the docks. Katara could see clothing from all four nations being peddled (though the orange of the Air Nomads was a bit dull), along with jewelry, art, scrolls, food, fish, furniture, and goods from around the world. There was even an apothecary stand from which she was able to purchase a sizable bag of herbs to help her sleep.

"A pinch of this stuff in your tea will knock you out in a quarter of a candle mark, guaranteed," said the plump, bearded merchant as he tied off her package.

"I hope so," she said, slipping it into her bag.

As she was getting her change, she heard someone shout, "Think fast!"

A great clod of earth was soaring right at her head. Katara whipped her arm back and pulled a wall of water out of the air. She sunk down low to the ground and just as the earth flew over her head, she caught it in a net of water and held it suspended in midair. Then, with a flick of her wrist, she turned the water into ice and shredded the projectile into a cloud of dirt and snow. The dustcloud enveloped the neighboring stalls. The man who had sold her the sleep herbs coughed while he threw a blanket over his merchandize.

"Sorry," she said, then leaped backwards as a jagged crack in the earth snaked its way between her legs. She took a deep breath and pulled more water from the surrounding air. Then she spun on her heels and ran the way the crack had come, gathering the water into two fat sleeves as she went. She did her best to avoid upsetting any stalls, but a greengrocer who had unwisely set up his pushcart in the middle of the foot path couldn't be spared. One of her water sleeves upset his entire cart. Mounds of fresh, leafy greens poured onto the muddy street.

_"My cabbages!"_

Her distant assailant was cackling now. Walls of earth sprung up in her path, trying to cut her off, but she made ice stairs and vaulted over the obstructions, firing ice knives with every leap. As she tore past the last stall, run by a red-robed woman peddling knives, the town opened up into a square with a decorative fountain set in it. She smirked.

"Never challenge a master waterbender when there's a fountain nearby," she said.

Toph, her black hair piled on top of her head and her shark-like smile firmly in place, jerked one clawed hand upward, and the fountain's spigot ceased functioning.

"You were saying?"

A chattering, soaring creature with batlike ears soared past Katara and landed on the shoulder of a very tall, very familiar orange-clad young man. The knot in Katara's stomach tied itself into a bow.

"Toph, are you sure you should be damaging public property like that?"

"Oh relax. I'll fix it when we're done."

"Catch!" Katara shouted, and threw her bag to Aang. In the time it took him to catch it, Katara made an ice slide and rode it to the basin of the fountain, then made a scooping motion with her arms and bent the water into a torrential wave. Toph stomped and chunks of stone rose out of the earth, breaking her ice slide and sending Katara flying into the sky like a tiger-cake during a festival. For a moment, Katara thought of the first time she'd flown with Aang, the bottomless feeling of climbing up and up, then the feeling of her insides being left behind as the earth yawned below her. Then she twisted in the air and threw her arms forward, pulling a thick curtain of water with her as big as a sail.

"Heads up!" she shouted.

She threw the wave onto Toph's head just as Toph tossed up her own earth shield to counter the oncoming downpour. The water froze as if captured in ink. Katara dove into it and swam to where Toph stood, held still in mid bending-stance. Katara took one of her wrists, intending to drag her friend out of the ice and pin her down until she gave in, when a great stone arm sent both of them tumbling onto what was left of the cobbled square. Her hold on the water faltered and it burst apart like a rotten barrel. Aang, holding Katara's bag above his head, was soaked to the waist. Momo screeched at the oncoming water and scrabbled to stay atop Aang's shoulders.

Katara and Toph lay panting on their backs, legs and arms sprawled.

"When did... you learn... facebending?" Katara gasped.

"Not... telling..." replied Toph.

A pair of slender, booted feet stopped near Katara's head. She looked up and saw Aang grinning down at her.

"Nice one," he said. "Katara seems to be on top. You owe me five gold pieces, Toph."

"No... way..." she panted. "Still... haven't lost..."

Katara wobbled to her feet. There was water everywhere. The pale cobblestones of the town square were black with water, and several irritable-looking old women were scowling in her direction. There was a trail of rocks and sundry debris littering the path she'd taken from the docks, not to mention a few holes that were now dangerously deceptive puddles. It was even money that Aang would have to do some damage control. This was probably not the time to have a rematch.

She wrung out her hair. "I'm willing to call it a stalemate if you are."

Toph blew her wet bangs out of her face, stood up, and stuck out her hand somewhere to Katara's left. "Only 'cause I'm hungry."

Katara took Toph's hand and pulled her into a very wet hug. "It's so good to see you."

"I'd say the same, but well, you know." Toph put both hands on her back and stretched until her bones cracked. Water dripped off the light green belt tied around her waist, a sign of her station as Master Earthbender of the Gaoling School, and the red rope she'd wound around it, a sign of her service to the Fire Nation.

"I kept your bag dry," Aang said. He held it out to her, and her hands closed over the strap.

"Aang," she said, her voice too high. "Hi."

"What, hi is all I get?" He half-smiled, half-scowled and put his hands on his hips. "Toph got a hug. She doesn't even like hugs."

"I can take 'em or leave 'em," Toph said.

Katara hesitated. While she wasn't sure she was ready for them to be best friends again, she had missed Aang, badly. She'd missed their easy camaraderie and the fun they'd had together. Then, they'd been able to touch each other without any implications that would make things so complicated later. Couldn't it be like that again?

She opened her arms. He grinned and scooped her into a bear-like embrace, then quite literally hung in the air as he spun her in a circle. Both she and Momo shrieked in surprise, one delighted, one offended enough to take flight.

"It's awesome to see you, Katara! I can't believe it's been a year already. A whole year! I missed you so much!" He set her down, his arms still loosely draped over her shoulders. There was a pink tinge to his cheeks. "You look great."

She smiled and gently pushed his hands away under the pretense of bending everyone's clothes dry. "It's nice to see you too, Aang," she said as she funneled the water into the empty fountain. "I wish it were under better circumstances."

Aang bowed his head slightly. "Yeah. It's hard to believe that Zuko's..." he trailed off, shook his head. "I mean, he's Zuko. He broke into Zhao's fortress and got me out of my chains without bending. I never thought something as stupid a poisoned dart would take him down."

"Poison can't be fought off with a pair of swords," she said. "Besides. He's not down yet. Now that you're with me, I know we're going to find a way to bring him back."

He smiled and touched her shoulder. "Glad to see you still haven't stopped believing in me."

Toph cleared her throat. Aang dropped his hand and looked strangely guilty. "While I'm all for hashing out plans to rescue Sparky from the big, bad spirit monster, I think we should do it over dinner. Maybe at our house? Where there's food?"

Katara raised her eyebrows. "You have a house?"

Aang rolled his eyes and gestured to Toph. "We were going to camp like usual, but Prefect Jiang wanted to let us use his guest house after we got Mister Song his farm back. Toph wouldn't let me say no."

"You mean I put you in a headlock until you gave in," Toph sniffed.

"A-hem."

An accented, honed, and thoroughly irritated voice interrupted their conversation. Everyone with the exception of Toph, who was occupied with digging the wax out of her ears, turned to see a very old woman with an elaborate headdress glaring imperiously at them. She was flanked on both sides by the women who had been glaring at them earlier, all of whom looked intolerably smug.

"Lady Chen!" Aang said, standing up very straight. He gave what looked like an attempt at a charming smile, but came out looking like a guilty one. "Uh... what's up?"

"While the village appreciates the efforts you have gone to in order to solve the conflicts between its citizens, we remind the Avatar that his services did not include landscaping." She gestured to the holes in the road, one of which was being used as a new swimming-hole by a group of excited children. "No matter how quaint the results."

* * *

One exhausting, hole-filling, water siphoning hour later, Katara laid her bag down on the low table in the foyer of the guest house. The tatami floor was covered in cushions of many sizes, shapes, and colors, all clustered around a black-lacquer table. Momo swooped over her head and lighted on the table, where he immediately began to devour the contents of a bowl of lychee nuts.

"Finally," moaned Toph, flopping onto a pile of cushions. "If I had to pretend to be sorry for tearing one more hole in this stupid town I was going to earthbend that Chen woman into a volcano. And did you have to introduce Katara to every yokel who passed?"

Aang laced his fingers together and lifted them over his head, stretching as he spoke. "Remember how everyone wanted to meet us when we first got here?"

"Yeah. It was boring."

"It's like that," said Aang. "We don't have to like it, but we're symbols of what we accomplished during the war. Katara's a hero. I'm not going to say no if they want to meet her."

He rested his palm against Katara's back. She stiffened and jerked away a little too fast. She thought she saw a brief look of hurt flash over Aang's face, but he was smiling again before she could be sure.

"I'm going to go get dinner started," she said. "Be right back."

She practically ran. The kitchen was at the back of the house, sealed off by a huge green door. She shoved her way through, leaned against it, and covered her face with her hands. Her breath was hot against her fingers and cheeks.

"Relax," she muttered. "Everything's fine. Better than fine. That's good. That's what you were hoping for."

She lightly slapped her cheeks and lowered her hands. There was already something simmering over the fire pit in the middle of the floor. She picked up a hand towel and gingerly lifted the lid on the pot. A silky cloud of steam billowed out and the sweet, savory smell of curry filled the room. She leaned in and breathed. It had been a long time since she'd had Earth Kingdom curry. Now if she could find some rice, she'd have a complete meal. She set the lid down and scanned the room.

The door creaked behind her. She turned around to see Momo slink in through the crack, eyes round and hopeful. She put her hands on her hips.

"Sometimes I think the only words you understand are the ones that have to do with food."

Momo sat up on his hind paws and chattered at her.

"See? Point proven."

She bent to pick him up and caught a few words from the distant front room. As Momo clambered onto her shoulder, she went very still to listen.

"...being so touchy-feely. It's awkward for her too, and pawing at her isn't going to help things."

It was Toph. Katara held her breath.

"I know, I know, but I can't help it," said Aang. "It's like my hands have minds of their own. They want to touch her. It feels right to touch her."

"She's got enough to worry about without you playing touch ninja. It's been over a year, and in case you don't remember, you broke up. You can't just..."

Momo, apparently sick of waiting for his share of dinner, began loudly chattering in Katara's ear. She quickly shut the door. Her ears were hot and tingly, as if she'd just stepped out of a steam bath. It felt right to touch her? What did that mean? She supposed that she missed the intimacy that they'd once shared as well, before it changed and went sour and she couldn't kiss him goodbye without wiping any trace of him off her face, but that couldn't be willed back to life. She hoped very hard that he knew that. She was thankful, at least, that Toph seemed to understand.

Soon, she found a put full of warm, fluffy rice and a collection of bowls, clean and ready to be used. The curry, as far as she could tell, was entirely vegetarian, which was a relief. She didn't want to have to make something else to suit Aang after finding out she didn't have to cook after all.

It had been hard for him in the South Pole. As she scooped the rice into each bowl, she remembered how he would stand on shore during hunting season, hugging himself as he watched the canoes depart on their yearly whale hunt. She'd been able to give their share of the resulting meat to Sokka, but that hadn't stopped Aang from performing his own quiet ceremonies in honor of the life her tribe had taken. This wouldn't have caused trouble if Aang hadn't ignored her pleas to keep it private. She was lucky her father was the chief, because the implication that the Southern Water Tribe's own ceremony hadn't sufficiently honored the greatest of their prey was insulting enough to result in exile for anyone else. As it was, he was still the Avatar, and the tribe soon loved him again, despite his problems with meat. It had been that problem, in fact, that had resulted the increasing length of his absences, and one of the few fights of their entire relationship.

 _"I can't eat here!" Aang said. "You know that! I_ have _to go if I don't want to starve. I just don't understand why you won't come with me!"_

__

__

"Because I have a life here! Dad's finally back home. We've only been here for a few months, Aang. This is the first time we've been able to be a family since he left to go fight the Fire Nation. I can't just abandon him to travel with you. Even Sokka's staying, and Suki went back to Kyoshi!"

"Don't we have fun, Katara? Don't you enjoy traveling with me? We could have that again if you'd just come with me."

"Not now, not right this second. If I had some time to be with my Dad for a while, I could, but I don't want to go yet. I'm not ready. We've been away so long; why can't you understand that?"

"Why don't you want to be with me?"

_"Not everything is about you!"_

She dropped the last spoon on the serving tray. Brown curry steamed from each bowl. That should be enough food for all of them. She'd even made some rice balls for Momo. She handed one to him and tried not to remember Aang's misery or her frustration. That was in the past. If they were going to be friends again, it was time to let those feelings go. She hefted the tray with both hands, Momo riding on her shoulder, and carried it to the sitting room.

"They made us curry!" she announced.

Aang jumped to his feet, looking as if he'd been caught in the act of doing something wrong. Toph sat without moving very near to where Aang had been when she'd arrived with the food.

"Smells great," said Toph. She snapped her fingers and held out her hand. "Gimme."

"Thanks Katara," said Aang, taking two bowls and two spoons from the tray.

He put a bowl in Toph's outstretched hand and set a spoon on the table within her reach. Toph dug in immediately.

"Mmmm," said Toph, her mouth full of curry. She swallowed. "I love being the Avatar's bodyguard. This is way better than army food."

Aang gave her a skeptical look. "Toph, you haven't been in the army for two years now."

Toph shuddered. "The taste lingers. Hey, Sweetness." She pointed her spoon at Katara. "Next time you see Sparky, tell him if he wants to improve morale, he should recruit some chefs. By force if he has to."

"Do you think you'd ever go back to it if he did?" asked Katara. "What you did with the Rough Rhinos was pretty amazing, and there's still a lot of good you could do."

Toph shrugged. "I dunno. Once I got 'em to stop with the rampaging they got kind of dull. Good at parties, though," she added. "You remember Yeh-Lu, the guy with the bombs? Soprano."

Katara blinked. "I... um, I never would have guessed."

Aang leaned back in his chair, his hands behind his head. "Maybe instead of Toph joining the Fire Nation army again, we could all do a tour of it instead, after we save Zuko. We could make it a kind of cultural festival with Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom stuff. Like that dance we put on in the cave. Remember that?"

Katara stretched and wiggled her toes. "Yeah. Seeing those stiff kids loosen up and dance like that was amazing. You did a really good thing for them."

"I liked the music," said Toph. "Snoozles wasn't happy, though. Remember that stupid schedule he had?"

"Yeah," said Aang. "It sort of disappeared after we went to that river town, though. Wonder what happened to it?"

"Um... I definitely didn't waterbend it to the bottom of the river," said Katara.

"I knew you had something do with it," Toph said with relish.

Aang set his spoon into his empty bowl. "Remember our dance?"

Katara grinned and poked him in the arm. "Remember On Ji?"

Aang went pink and glanced at Toph. His shoulders, which had been relaxed, tensed slightly. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Um... it was a really great party. Everyone was so excited; I think if we didn't get caught we could have gone on all night. We should do it again. It'd be good for the Fire Nation's morale, don't you think?"

"It'd be fun, too," said Toph.

Aang relaxed, and that old grin slid onto his face. He leaned back in his chair. "I bet I could get you to dance."

"No chance in hell."

Aang began to argue with her, and they soon fell into a rhythm that felt familiar and comfortable, like a soft old obi or an aged pair of boots. She swallowed her last bit of curry and rice. There was a pinching feeling in her chest that had nothing to do with the food. Like when everyone had gone into their tents to share stories, and she was the one left to clean the firepit. It wasn't surprising that she would feel that way, considering that she hadn't spent any time with Aang or Toph in more than a year. But she found herself envious of their easy camaraderie. Hadn't she once had that with Aang? She wished, not for the first time, that she could forget things as easily as Aang seemed to.

"Tell you what," Toph was saying. "As soon as you can get Sparky to dance in public, I'll be the first one doing a jig on the table. What do you say?"

She stuck out her hand. Aang looked at Katara, and she shrugged as if to say 'go ahead, it's your funeral.' He slowly extended his own arm. Before he was halfway there, Toph groped for him, closed her fist on empty air, then leaned over and caught him. They shook on it.

"Excellent," said Toph. She cracked her knuckles. "Now all we have to do is get him out of the Spirit World and get Sparky so I can watch you fail. I like to see you squirm, Twinkle Toes."

Aang sighed. "Toph, you can't see anything."

She waggled her finger in his general direction. "Thought I had you that time."

"The Spirit World..." Aang leaned back in his chair, frowning. "People who get poisoned don't usually end up in the Spirit World. Well, they do if they die." He winced. "I should just leave my foot in my mouth all the time and save myself the trouble."

"I know what you meant," said Katara. She smiled encouragingly. "Go on."

"It's weird. I read your letter, and I don't really understand what the smell meant. But the creaking wood sounds like something's binding him. You remember Hei-Bai, right? He took Sokka and all those villagers to the Spirit World because his forest got burnt down. Zuko hasn't cut down any forests or poisoned any rivers lately, has he?"

"I... don't know?" she thought for a moment. "I think Iroh would have told me if he had. Probably not?"

"Huh," said Aang. His eyes were on his finger as he rubbed small circles on the table. "Don't you and Zuko write each other all the time, though?"

Zuko's last letter floated to the surface of Katara's thoughts.

_You were right, you know. About everything. You can't build a house on a rocky foundation, much less a relationship. I wish... I don't know what I wish. I wish I could see you more often. You're free every winter, aren't you? Come and visit me then. It'll be summer here. We can talk about everything. I'll show you around the capital. It'll be nice for you to see it when it's not on fire. Don't laugh._

Aang yelped, and Katara jerked back to reality. She looked up to see Toph with her arms folded across her chest and Aang nursing one of his shins.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"I know exactly what you were implying." Toph folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes. "Don't."

"Implying what?" asked Katara.

Toph smacked herself in the forehead. The gesture would have done Sokka proud.

"I was only saying," said Aang, glaring ineffectively at Toph as he rubbed his leg. "That you two are pretty close. If anyone would know what he was up to, you would. That's all."

The corners of Katara's mouth turned down just a little. "Well, we do, but... it's not like he tells me every detail what he does all day. He's Fire Lord. 'Today I raised taxes on imported iron' would be a really boring letter."

"Really?" said Aang, his voice high and strange. He stroked Momo, who had curled up after his meal and gone to sleep on the table. "So what do you two write about?"

_Mai's back from Ba Sing Se. I don't know, something's different. She won't talk about it. She won't talk much at all. She just stares into her tea and asks me about politics, but things are so hectic that I've started dreaming about work..._

Toph threw her hands in the air. "How is that even relevant?"

"I agree," said Katara. Heat rose in her cheeks. "I don't see how our letters any of your business, Aang."

Aang raised his hands in supplication. "Okay, okay, sorry. I'm just curious. You never let me read any of them when I was still in the South Pole."

"That's because they were my private correspondence," Katara retorted. "I never read any of your letters."

Toph wrapped her arms around her waist and snorted. "You are such a liar."

"What, were you there? Did you catch me reading them? No."

"When you put it that way, no, but you totally just adm-"

"Let's just drop it, okay?" said Aang. "It's not that big a deal."

"That's right," said Katara, seizing on the opportunity to change the subject. "There are more important things to focus on, like getting into the Spirit World. Aang, I know you can get there yourself. Can you bring me and Toph along somehow?"

He grimaced and scratched the back of his head. "If it were the equinox, maybe, but I don't think I could take both of you with me. You don't have a natural connection to it like I do."

"Wanna give it a try?" said Toph. "See how spiritual we are?"

"Yes. We should do that," said Katara. She lifted one finger and opened her mouth, then closed it, frowning. "Um. How do we do that?"

Toph smirked and drummed her fingers on the table. Katara valiantly ignored her.

"Come sit over here," said Aang, with a sliver of a smile. "Toph, you're fine where you are."

Katara scooted until she was shoulder-to-shoulder with Aang. He held out his hand, and when she took it, he used his other one to take hold of Toph's. He breathed in, held it, then slowly let it out.

"Close your eyes," he said. "Breathe slowly and deeply. Try not to concentrate on anything. If you have a thought, let it pass through you, don't worry about forcing it away. Try to focus on your breathing."

Katara closed her eyes. A few minutes passed. Then a few more. Finally, Aang let out a noise of frustration and let go of her hand.

"Ugh! I keep getting close, but it's like you're too heavy. I can't get you through."

"That's okay, Aang," said Katara, though her heart clenched with disappointment. "What if we were somewhere else? Some place like the Spirit Oasis? Do you think you could do it then?"

"I don't know. Maybe." He groaned and hit the table with his forehead. "This would be so much easier if I could just do it by myself. I wish Guru Pathik were here."

"Guru Pathik?" asked Toph. She made a face. "The guy who made you drink all the onion-banana juice?"

"He taught me a lot about the Avatar state. If anyone knows how to get multiple people into the Spirit World, it's him."

"So let's go visit him," said Katara. "How far is the Eastern Air Temple from here?"

Aang thought for a moment. "A few days, if we take Appa."

"Then it's settled," said Katara, folding her arms across her chest. "We'll leave in the morning."

Toph mock-saluted her. "Sure thing, Captain."

Katara rolled her eyes and turned to Aang, ready to say something like, 'can you believe her?' At the look on his face, though, she paused. His eyes were unfocused, as if he were frowning at something only he could see.

"What's wrong, Aang?" she asked.

"Nothing," he said. He scratched Momo behind the ears. The lemur purred in his lap. "We're going to do this. We're going to get him back. This time, I'm going to save him."

Katara smiled, reached over the table, and squeezed Aang's hand. "That's right. And if I see him tonight, I'll tell him we're coming for him."

Aang stood up very suddenly. "It's getting late. I think we should go to bed. Momo, you coming?"

The sleepy lemur stretched and scampered up Aang's arm.

"I'm sleeping in the stable with Appa," he continued. "So you two can have the bedrooms."

"Sweet," said Toph. "Dibs on the master bed."

"I wish I had my sleeping bag with me," said Katara. "We could all sleep in the stable. It'd be like old times."

Aang cocked his head, and gave a soft, half-smile that Katara couldn't read. "Old times. Right. Goodnight, Katara. Toph."

"Yo," said Toph, just as Katara murmured, "Goodnight."

Toph helped her clear the dishes, which was a nice change from the way things used to be during the war. She handled the bowls and eating utensils and Toph took care of the cookware. When Katara complimented her on the job she'd done on the heavy iron pot, Toph laughed and said that she knew metal. This was close enough to modesty for Toph that Katara had to wonder whether Aang had been influencing her, and not the other way around as Toph claimed. She'd never thought it odd that Toph had agreed to travel with Aang after her she finished her service in the Fire Nation. Toph liked her freedom, and for all his obligations as the Avatar, Aang was as free as his element. She could never have predicted, though, that tough, unchanging Toph would ever adopt the mannerisms of someone as yielding as Aang. She supposed that spending enough time with one person would change anyone.

After the dishes were done, she brewed up a cup of the potent sleeping herbs, curled up in her very soft futon and fell asleep within minutes.

* * *

There was no fog in the swamp. Strange, she thought. She brushed her hair away from her neck and fished in her pocket for something to secure it with. Nothing. She let her hair drop and listened for the familiar sound of Zuko calling her name. She didn't begin to worry until it didn't come.

"Zuko?" she called, tentative. "Can you hear me?"

There was a sound like electricity behind her. She turned.

A sumptuous banquet had appeared. The black lacquer table sat low to the ground, cushions embroidered with gold and silver thread arranged around it. Every inch of its surface was covered in food of all kinds; suckling picken, stir-fried frogamander legs with vibrantly colored vegetables, candied fruit, spicy fish with coconut rice, piles of milk-soaked dumplings, saffron rice with almonds, thick, yellow curries and heavily spiced stews with eggplant and lentils, even cured seal meat, seaweed-wrapped salmon, and what she was sure was a bowl of sea prunes. Beside each plate sat a goblet of clear, powerfully aromatic wine. Her stomach grumbled. Surely whoever put the feast together wouldn't notice if she sampled a few things. Her fingers itched to take something, anything to calm the emptiness in her belly. She was kneeling on a cushion now. She didn't even notice she'd moved. It was so easy to reach into the bowl of sea prunes and take one of the salty, savory things and raise it to her lips.

"I wouldn't do that."

She looked up just before the pilfered sea prune met her mouth. A middle-aged man sat across from her. He wore his hair in a topknot, in the style of the Fire Nation, and the armor that adorned his body was antiquated. His hair was mostly dark brown, but there were streaks of grey in it that looked like recent additions. There was something strangely familiar about his smiling, gold eyes, and his gruff voice.

"Why?" she asked. Her voice echoed like his did not. "I'm hungry."

"The food of the Spirit World has too high a price for the living."

The sea prune's juice dribbled down her hand and dripped onto the wet earth. It smelled almost as intoxicating as the wine.

"Can't I just take one bite? It looks so good."

"If you do, you'll never stop," he inclined his head. "Look at them."

Tall, misshapen shadows crouched on the cushions that were not occupied by her and the stranger. The plates that had once been empty now held huge piles of food. With elongated, multi-jointed arms, the shadows shoved it into ugly gashes that must once have been mouths. The food fell through them, and landed on the beautiful cushions with ugly splats. Katara dropped the sea prune and shoved herself away from the table. The juice on her hand and arm itched where it touched. She scrambled away and plunged her arm into the swamp, scrubbing it with handfuls of grass and mud until it was clean.

The stranger's reflection appeared next to her own. She looked over her shoulder and saw that he had left the feast. The creatures at the table did not take notice of them; they ate steadily, and the feast quickly dwindled to nothing but peels and bones and piles of chewed food.

"What are they?" she asked.

"I do not know." He smiled at her. "They never answer my questions."

The last of the food fell onto the floor of the swamp, and the table vanished. The shadow-creatures began to eat the food on the ground. She turned away, shuddering.

"I am looking for my son," said the man. "Have you seen him?"

She shook her head. "You're the first person I've ever seen here. Other than them."

He cocked his head at her and rocked backwards on his heels. "I have seen many people since I came here. You're the first one who has spoken to me. Perhaps this means we are kindred Spirits!"

He laughed at his own joke. Something pulled in Katara's memory.

"Do I know you?" she asked.

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. Time is strange here. Sometimes I do not think it exists at all. I have heard someone calling for me, but I do not recognize his voice..." he trailed off, shook his head. "You are Water Tribe, yes?"

She stood. "Yes. The Southern Tribe. I'm looking for someone, too. Someone of your nation. My, um, my friend."

He raised both bushy eyebrows. The smile on his face grew wide. "Your 'friend' is very lucky to have someone as beautiful as you as his companion."

She folded her arms across her chest. "How do you know it's a he?"

"Love stories are the only stories that I know."

Heat rose in her cheeks. "I'm not- he's not- you've got the wrong idea. He's got a girlfriend!"

He patted her on the shoulder. "Then you have my sympathies."

A splintering crash sounded in the distance, and a flock of thin black birds flew over their heads, calling out their alarm in hollow voices. The shadow creatures scattered. The Fire Nation man gripped Katara's forearm, hard.

"We do not have much time," he said. "Listen to me. Spirits do not lie, but they are not always honest. Do not eat the food. Do not make promises. Always accept gifts, but remember to offer something in return. A demon's heart is in its eye. And if you see my son, tell him I'm looking for him!"

Something splashed into the swamp and the sky went a bright, fiery blue edged with white.

_Katara!_

* * *

"Zuko!"

Katara sat bolt upright in bed and immediately clamped her hands over her mouth. Had she just shouted that? She could feel her entire face turning bright red. Toph was in the next room. If she heard that... she groaned and flopped back onto her pillows. If she knew Toph, and she knew Toph, she was going to hear about it in the morning. Mercilessly. She rolled onto her side and strained her ears, but didn't hear anything except chirping crickets and the murmur of trees in the late-night breeze. This either meant that Toph was asleep, or that Toph was awake and being very quiet. Neither option provided Katara with any comfort.

Slowly, like creeping syrup, memories of her dream edged into her thoughts. What had those shadow-creatures been? She shuddered to think that they'd once been human, like the Fire Nation man had implied. Maybe that was what happened to anyone who had spent too much time in the Spirit World. What had the man told her? All she could remember was to stay away from food... something about demons and telling the truth... it was too fuzzy. She hoped she could remember more later. She hoped she wouldn't run into the shadows again. She hoped the man had found his son.

From the position of the moon, she guessed that she'd only been asleep for a few hours. It was probably only a little past midnight. While it was annoying that she'd been woken up even earlier than she had become grudgingly accustomed to, it at least presented an opportunity for her to try to fall asleep again. She yawned, and her vision blurred, a probable side-effect of the herbs she'd drunk before bed. She settled back into her futon and tried to let them lull her back to sleep.

Warm, wet, green air blew in through her open window, carrying the scent of new leaves with it. It triggered a memory that she often returned to when she was falling asleep. She closed her eyes and let her thoughts carry her to the Fire Nation, on the last night of the Food Riots.

* * *

_Summer, ASC 102, Year of the Dog_

For two years after Fire Lord Ozai was deposed and stripped of his bending by Avatar Aang, the Fire Nation teetered on the brink of civil war. The Food Riots, brought on in part by a sharp, sudden rise in the price of rice in the suffering post-war nation, were what everyone was sure would push it over the edge. And for a short time, it nearly did. It was only the intervention of the Avatar and his friends that stopped the worst of it before it could explode into an all-out war.

The night after their apparent victory, Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Ty Lee, Suki, and all the Kyoshi warriors were invited to the palace to celebrate. Though it was too soon to tell if their work would have a permanent effect, the atmosphere of victory was intoxicating, and everyone was in the mood for a party.

Almost everyone, in any case. As soon as the dessert course arrived and Toph and Sokka dissolved into a rice wine-fueled insult contest, Zuko left. Once Katara finished her mango and sticky coconut rice, she followed.

"Hey," she said. She found him leaning against the balcony railing, staring into the garden. Without bothering to ask, she joined him. "I didn't notice you leaving."

He gestured to the dining room, where the happy shrieks of Aang, Toph, and Sokka could be heard as they engaged in a drunken game of lemurs and hogmonkeys, enthusiastically refereed by Ty Lee.

"Needed some air."

"What, the air in the dining room wasn't good enough for you?"

He lifted one corner of his mouth. "I don't see you enjoying it."

She grinned. "It wasn't good enough for me either."

"You're such a princess."

She stuck her nose in the air. "We are what we are born to."

She could still hear a few shrieks from the nearby dining room as her friends celebrated. Her brother and Suki were in one of their off periods, so she was happy that he was having fun, even if he was being a little loud. It was his own fault, really. He wanted Suki to move to the South Pole with him permanently, and wouldn't hear Suki out when she told him she didn't want to give up her life as head of the Kyoshi warriors. Every winter, like clockwork, they'd have their fight and break up, and every summer, they'd get back together again. She hoped they'd figure things out soon. She liked Suki very much, and she could tell that Sokka missed her when she was gone, though he always insisted he'd be just fine without her as he moodily made carving after terrible carving that depicted dead animals or hunters lost at sea. She hoped that they'd work something out on this mission, but Suki had declined Zuko's dinner invitation and retired with the rest of the Kyoshi to their rooms for the night. She seemed determined for Sokka to make the first move this time. Katara made a face. If she wanted that, she'd be waiting forever.

She slowly let out a long breath, letting the sound of it mingle with the distant noise of the sea. "So," she said.

"So," he said back.

She bit her lip, then released it. "How long has it been like this?"

"Like what?"

She waved her hand in the general direction of the capital city. It helped that it was all around them, so it wasn't as if she could miss. "The riots. The insurgency. All this. Last time we were here everything was fine. I mean, it wasn't perfect, but it wasn't this bad."

Zuko brushed his hair out of his eyes, but it fell back into place. "I'm not sure. Things weren't bad at first. People were hungry, but I had a lot of good programs going, so it wasn't as if they weren't happy. I mean, they didn't like the new histories, and they weren't thrilled about all the factories closing, but things weren't terrible. The riots didn't start until the Earth Kingdom Merchants' Guild decided to add another piece of gold onto the price of a bag of rice. Then the old soldiers got involved and they started organizing... I had some of the leaders arrested and things just exploded. I don't know how they got out of hand so fast. It was like I put out a fire only to find out that there was a volcano underneath it."

Katara crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrow. If Sokka were there, he'd have called it her best skeptical mom look. "Was that around the time that your donation arrived?"

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "You weren't supposed to know that was from me."

"Dad told Sokka, and Sokka doesn't know how to keep a secret," she said, waving her hand. "And besides that, I would have found out anyway. That money was from your personal coffers, Zuko. You could have given that to your people."

Zuko slammed his fist onto the railing in front of them, nearly startling Katara out of her pose. "It's my money and I can use it however I damned well want!"

"Your first duty is to your people," she shouted back. "They're not going to understand if you give a thousand gold pieces to the people they were fighting two years ago. Especially the South Pole. Most of them still think we're savages."

The word was bitter in her mouth. That morning, when she'd hauled in the last of the rioters, he'd spat at her and called her something she'd never repeat to anyone. Something that meant to him, she was less than filth, because she wasn't Fire Nation.

"That's not true," he said. He was looking at her now. "They don't all think like that."

She shook her head. "Maybe some of them don't, but you can't fight a hundred years of propaganda."

"You can if you don't give up," he said. "And I won't. Change in this place starts with me. I'm going to make sure kids in the Fire Nation don't grow up thinking we defeated the Air Nomad armies or the Southern Armada. I'm going to make things right."

"Southern Armada?"

"You don't want to know."

There was a pause as she imagined the possibilities. Knowing the details would probably only make her angry. She decided that he was probably right. She didn't want to know. At least, not right away. She'd save that for after she got back to the South Pole. Surely Aang would remember the content of his Fire Nation schoolbooks.

"Still," she said. "You should have used the money for local relief efforts. And you should have written Aang! It really hurt his feelings that you didn't trust him to help with this."

Zuko thrust his arms to the sky. "It wasn't about trust! It was about keeping my own house! Aang shouldn't have to deal with my mess along with the rest of the world when I should have been competent enough to take care of it on my own!"

"If he were here, he'd say that it's the Avatar's job to keep the Avatar's peace. Since he's not, though, I'll answer for myself." She fixed him with a glare. "I'm hurt that you didn't write me. Didn't you think I'd want to help the second I heard you were in trouble? Don't you think I'm capable of helping?"

"Of course you're capable! You're more than capable, you..." he seemed to struggle for a moment. "I didn't want to get you involved in my mistakes."

"What, because I'm Water Tribe?"

"No! Because you... you're my best friend and I..." He groaned and put his head in his hands. "I'm not going to win this, am I?"

"Nope," she said. She put her hands on her hips. "I'm very good at being right."

"You're telling me," he muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing." He sighed. "Maybe I did made a mistake. Maybe I should have waited until things here calmed down." He took a step toward her and looked down. She had to lift her chin a little to look him in the eyes. He'd gotten so tall since she saw him last. "But I'd do it again. It's not about honor or duty. It's about doing what's right. You taught me how important that is."

She lifted her hand and brushed his hair away from his face. Her fingers skated over the surface of his scar, and he went very still.

"Well," she said, her voice just above a whisper. "Good. Just... um, remember that the right thing is sometimes the stupid thing, too. So... think about it before you do it. Okay?"

He caught her hand in his and lowered it. "Okay."

"And you have to promise to start writing me letters more often." She gently stroked the back of his hand with her thumb. "I don't want to be shut out of your life because you have this weird idea about protecting me from it."

He nodded. "I promise. Detailed letters."

"With all the gory details. Because I'm not going to hold back in mine."

"All of them. Whatever you want."

She sighed and rested her forehead on his chest. They stood there for she didn't know how long, their linked hands pressed between them. She could hear him breathing. No, she realized, she could feel him breathing. It was strange. Not like bloodbending, where she was horribly aware of the way organs and blood vessels intertwined with one another and how she could stop them all with a single squeeze, but like the feel of a heartbeat under her hand, warm and alive. She liked it. She liked that she could feel something like that without using the horrible thing Hama had forced her to learn. Then, she heard Ty Lee shriek from the nearby dining room, and quickly jerked backwards.

"It's a nice night," she asked, tucking her hair behind her ears and trying to keep her voice light. "Isn't it?"

Zuko settled his hands on the railing. "Yeah," he said. "It's nice. Really warm." There was a short silence, and then, as if he couldn't contain himself, Zuko burst out, "You want to know where the money was from?"

She raised one eyebrow. "Um, sure."

"It was from Ozai's personal vaults. I thought it was appropriate to use it to help rebuild a place my family was so bent on destroying for so long."

She laughed. "I like that."

He smiled at her. "I thought you would."

* * *

They left around sunrise, after a breakfast of white rice and pickled vegetables that Katara ate half-awake. The sleep she'd gotten after her unwelcome awakening had been fitful and shallow. Even Appa's enthusiastic, slobbery greeting wasn't enough to penetrate her cloud of sleep-deprivation.

He was delighted to see Katara. He sniffed her thoroughly, grunting every time he noticed a particularly interesting smell. Momo glided in circles above them, chattering fretfully. Once Appa seemed satisfied with her, he delicately slipped a toe into Katara's shoulder bag, held it open, took a few investigative sniffs, then licked Katara on the cheek.

"Aw, he smells Sparky. Don't you, boy?" said Toph, slapping Appa's flank affectionately. Appa gave a great groan in response.

Katara pulled her drool-coated hand away from her face, twisted it, and bent Appa's spit into the ground. "Whatever he smells, I hope he doesn't smell it again. That's way too much spit."

Aang jumped down from Appa's saddle and held his hand out to her. "Give you a lift?" he asked, smiling.

She only hesitated for a few seconds this time.

 _Progress_ , she thought.

* * *

They discussed her dream between yawns. Aang didn't know what to make of the shadow-creatures. He did recall an Air Nomad legend about the dangers of eating Spirit World food, however, and told Katara that the creatures were probably the result of that particular indulgence.

"It's a good thing that Fire Nation guy was there," said Toph. "Old man probably saved your life. Wonder who he was."

"You know, it's the weirdest thing," said Katara. "He reminded me of Iroh. But that's impossible. He was at least fifteen years younger than Iroh is now. And I'm sure he would have said something by now."

"Not if he doesn't remember," said Toph.

Katara shook her head. "No. There's no way it could have been him. Could it?"

"Who knows?" said Aang with a shrug. "The monks always said that the Spirit World wasn't bound by normal rules. Maybe time is one of them."

* * *

Around midday, they stopped for a quick meal of fried food in a village that was apparently having a festival. By that time, she was feeling a bit more alert, and so Aang's hand on the small of her back as they walked back through the village to Appa was more than a little noticeable. She picked up her pace. She remembered what she'd overheard the previous night, how Aang had said that it felt right to touch her, that he couldn't help himself. She refused Aang's offer of his hand to get back into the saddle. He seemed to take it in his stride, not even breaking the pace of his conversation with Toph, but the gesture bothered her.

After that, at least for a little while, they fell into the easy camaraderie of their days during the war. Toph even cracked a few extremely filthy jokes to make up for Sokka's absence. Her repertoire was as extensive as it was perverted. More than once, Katara exclaimed, "Toph!" over Aang's rib-clutching guffaws, amazed that this eighteen-year-old girl knew so much about things even married couples had to pull out a book to reference. Toph shrugged and gave credit to the Earth Rumbles (of which she was now a five-time champion), her time in the Fire Nation Domestic Force, and her own inborn wisdom. Katara couldn't let that stand. She'd learned a few jokes herself during those long winter nights with the women her tribe. Her joke, however, though it drew an outright cackle and a slap on the back from Toph, left Aang rubbing the back of his neck and changing the subject.

It was a few hours after nightfall when they stopped in the shelter of a great thicket of trees. A cool mist swirled about their feet as they cleared a place to make a fire for the night. When they finally had a strong campfire going, Katara began to unpack the cookpot to start dinner. She was so intent on going through the inventory of their supplies in her head that she didn't notice when Aang gently slipped the cookpot out of her hands until he spoke.

"Go sit down with Toph," he said. "You spent all your time growing up taking care of us. Take a break for once. I can do this."

"He's not lying," Toph said from her prone position on the ground, her hands behind her head and legs crossed. "Twinkles can whip up a mean fruit pie."

Aang smiled. "No fruit pies tonight. But I can promise a good noodle soup."

It wasgood. The noodles were firm and the broth was spicy and interesting. Aang accepted his compliments from Katara gracefully, saying that it wasn't as good as something she could have made, but it was a good start.

"After traveling by myself for a while I got tired of eating rice every day. Cooking's fun." He shrugged but didn't lose his pleased smile. "If you want, tomorrow I could make you some Air Nomad food."

"That sounds great, Aang," said Katara. She set her empty bowl on the ground. "I'm glad you've been learning something new."

"Make sure you bring lots of water," said Toph in a dark tone of voice. "Air Nomad food is spicy."

Aang cocked his head and Katara was irresistibly reminded of Momo. "Naan and yogurt are better for spicy stuff, actually."

"Unless Appa starts lactating soon I doubt we're going to find any yogurt."

Appa gave a great, offended-sounding groan.

"I'm not doubting your masculinity!" said Toph. "I'm just saying."

Katara laughed. "I guess we'll have to make do with bread, then." She stood up, brushed the dirt from her tunic, and began to gather the dishes.

"Don't get up!" Aang snatched the two bowls she'd managed to get from her hands. "Please. Sit down. I told you, you deserved some time off. I'll do the dishes."

He twisted his wrists in a circular pattern and the remaining dishes were whisked into a whirlwind that he spun over his head.

"Be right back," he said, and headed into the trees where Katara could feel a stream trickling some distance away.

"Wow," said Katara, as soon as he was out of earshot.

"Wow what?" said Toph.

She tucked a strand of hair behind one ear. "He never told me he could cook. He never even tried when we were in the South Pole."

"You mean, 'what's he overcompensating for?' Seriously, you should stop lying when I'm around. You know I can tell."

Katara groaned and flopped onto her back, imitating Toph. "Was I that obvious?"

Toph snorted. "Please. This is Twinkletoes we're talking about. You could shove him into a volcano while reciting the third act of The Boy in the Iceberg and he'd still pretend he didn't notice you did it." She paused to flick a bug into the grass. "Not that he needs to pretend in your case, seeing as he's still got all these issues about you."

Katara remembered the South Pole, and the way he raised a hand to his face, refusing to look at her, and the way he wouldn't talk above a whisper.

"He doesn't act like it," she said, frowning. "He acts like everything's fine."

"How horrible."

She rolled her eyes. "It's just weird, okay? Things should be awkward between us. Especially considering the last things we said to each other. If he'd just get angry or yell at me or something I'd be able to deal with it, but he's acting like everything's fine. It's not. Why does he have to act so... nice?"

She winced, and imagined confronting him about it. How would she bring it up? 'I'm sorry, Aang, but you've been really nice to me since I showed up and frankly, it's freaking me out?' Maybe, 'You know, you've really made me feel like we can be friends again. Stop it.'

 _Yes, Katara_ , she thought. _Punish him for being a good person. That worked so well back in the South Pole._

She sighed. "There's no way to ask him about this without sounding like a huge jerk, is there?"

"So don't. Forget about it. Let him do what he wants to do and don't let it bother you."

She hugged herself. "But I feel like that's not honest. It does bother me."

"Oh for the love of..." Toph's hand hit her forehead with an audible smack. "You. Don't move." She stood up and stalked over to their nearby bags, ripped hers open and began to fumble through it.

"What we need," she said, "Is some social lubricant."

"I'm sorry?" Katara propped herself up on her elbow.

"I know you're not that naive, so quit pretending. Social lubricant. Distilled spirits. Booze. And it just so happens," she pulled a dark green bottle half full of clear liquid out of her bag, walked back to Katara, and thrust it at her. "That I have exactly what we need."

It sloshed threateningly as she took it. In ornate, archaic script, the label on the bottle read, _'Ogre Killer'_ kaoliang jiu _, light fragrance. Bottled on the island of Matsu. 120 proof_.

"Toph. Are you suggesting we get drunk?"

Toph dug a finger in her ear. "Not necessarily. Not per se. I'm only saying that we'll both need a few drinks if we want to get you to stop complaining that things are going so well."

"I am not complaining that things are going well!"

"Sure, sure. Hey, you got any cups in your bag? I didn't pack any and Twinkletoes has the other ones."

"No. Maybe Aang has some extras in his."

"Don't worry about it."

Toph pulled the cork out of the bottle with her teeth, spat it out, and drank directly from the bottle. She grimaced while swallowing and let out a huge, "Pah!" Then she held it out to Katara.

"Your turn, Sweetness. Drink up."

Katara sniffed the bottle and recoiled. "This smells like lamp oil."

"That means it's good," Toph said, a bit of Aang's patience in her voice.

Katara squeezed her eyes closed, held her breath, and took a swig. It stung her lips and sat hot on her tongue but was smooth as honeyed water. She swallowed. It was like choking on hot smoke.

"What's in this stuff?" she hacked, eyes watering.

Toph grinned held her hand out for the bottle. "Sorghum. Pure grain alcohol. Other secret ingredients. Good, huh?"

Katara was about to argue otherwise, but paused. A pleasant, light, delicate flavor almost like flowers lingered from her tongue to the corners of her jaw. "Hey. You're right. It is good."

Toph wiped her mouth and handed the bottle back to Katara. "Told ya."

"I'm back," announced Aang. The second he stepped into the firelight, he stopped, got a very strange look on his face, and sniffed the air. "Toph. Are you drinking again?"

"No. We're drinking. Pull up some ground and sit."

"How many times do I have to tell you I don't drink?" He plopped next to her and ruffled her hair.

She pushed him. "No, dummy, me and Katara are drinking. Sugar. Catch."

Toph threw the bottle at Katara without bothering to stick the cork in it. The _baijiu_ fanned spectacularly from its neck, shining like liquid gold in the firelight. Katara bent the liquor still and then caught the bottle just before it hit the ground.

"Katara," he said as she funneled the booze back into its bottle. There was something different in his tone from the way he said Toph's name. "You're drinking?"

In response, she lifted one finger and bent a globule of of _baijiu_ into her mouth. She coughed again, though her eyes watered a little less this time. "I'd offer you some, but I know you don't drink, so."

Aang's lips became a thin line, but he didn't say anything more. She'd seen that look before. It was the same one he gave the hunters as they divided their kills with the tribe and offered him his share. The same as the first time he discovered the extent to which the Northern Air Temple had changed since the days of the Air Nomads. Well. If it wasn't a big deal for Toph to drink, it shouldn't be a big deal for her either. She was two years older, after all. She drank from the bottle again and passed it back to Toph. It had been a while since she'd had time to drink, but she was sure that the burning in her ears and the web of warmth in her chest hadn't spread nearly as fast last time.

"Where'd you get this stuff?"

"Oh, this old thing? Had it since I got this," she pointed to the red cord of cloth she kept wound around her belt. "Sparky gave 'em to me when I quit the army."

"Why'd you quit, anyway? You seemed to really enjoy it. I didn't think you'd throw away wandering the Fire Nation with a horde of terrified underlings away so easily. Especially the fights. You love fighting."

Toph shuddered. "Need I remind you about the food again?"

"Oh. Right."

Toph took another drink and passed the bottle to Katara. "You have a point, though. It was really fun. I just wanted to try something new. Doing the same thing day in and day out gets boring after a while, you know?" She nudged Aang with her shoulder. "I know you do."

"Part of Air Nomad philosophy is the emphasis on little possessions in exchange for the freedom of detachment." He made a globe of air and spun it into the starry sky. "We are nomads, after all. Except for festival times and when we're being raised at the temples. There are actually a bunch of smaller temples all around the world where we used to stay during herding season."

"And we didn't stay at them during the war because...?"

"I don't know where they are." He shrugged. "I wasn't old enough to herd when I-" he paused, scratched the back of his head, looked away. "Back then. It'd be really neat to find them, though."

Katara laid on her side, her head propped on one elbow. Her whole face was warm and tingly now, her favorite part of intoxication. "Yeah. I bet you could find a lot of cultural stuff there that could help when you start rebuilding your society."

Aang leaned against his hands and looked at the sky. "That'd be nice. There are a lot of things I'm hoping to find if we go there. More lemurs, maybe, or sky bison. Air Nomads," he added in a small voice.

Toph wrapped herself around one of Aang's arms. "If you want a girlfriend that badly we can just find you one."

Aang seemed to blush, but in the firelight, Katara couldn't be sure. "I, uh-"

"Relax, Twinkletoes. I was messing with you," said Toph, but she didn't disengage herself from Aang's arm.

"Do you really think there are Air Nomads out there somewhere?" Katara asked.

"How do we know there aren't? You didn't know about the Swampbenders, and Toph didn't know about the Sandbenders, and Zuko thought the Warriors of the Sun were extinct, so there's at least the possibility, right?"

"I guess," Katara said. "The world's a pretty big place. It just doesn't seem really likely. You should be focusing on other things, teaching Airbender philosophy, or repopulating the temples yourself."

Aang raised one eyebrow. "I kind of gave up on that last option after we broke up."

Toph _cackled_. Katara could feel her already flushed cheeks going redder.

"There- there might be other ways!" she stuttered over Toph's laughter.

"Relax," said Aang, smiling in an eerie imitation of Toph. "It was a joke."

Once she finished laughing, Toph clapped him on the back. "Nice one. A little below the belt, but eh, you're still learning."

Aang shrugged and didn't protest when Toph settled her head in his lap. "I try."

Katara glared at them and took another drunk out of the bottle. She coughed a bit, and as she set the it between her and Toph she said, "I'm glad you don't teach at my school. Teaching kids how to be delinquents."

"How's the Academy doing?" asked Aang.

"Great!" She exclaimed, happy for a change in subject. "We just finished for the winter. Second term starts up in a month. I can't wait to start them on the pentapus form. The kids really liked that last year, and Master Pakku's just joined the faculty so that should bring in some more teachers from the North and then we can really expand. Dad's even started having meetings in the Great Hall. It's almost like Chief Arnook's palace! I'm really proud to have been a part of it."

"Does Suki ever have training sessions there?"

"Only during the summer and fall." She laid on her back and watched as the stars gently swum in a slow circle. "I wish they'd stay in the South Pole all year, but this seems like the only way they can make things work. They haven't broken up in like two years. I really miss them. Dad does, too, but he never says anything."

"What do those two do in Kyoshi, anyway?" grumbled Toph.

"Well, Suki has the Kyoshi warriors and Sokka's really busy with inventing things at his weird workshop. He came up with this whole new way of designing canals so they can be redirected without waterbending."

"They could at least come visit once in a while. Last time I hung out with them was at the Dedication, and they sure weren't too busy to show up, get drunk and make out in front of everyone."

Aang covered his eyes. "An image that can never be burned from my brain."

Katara giggled. The world swayed a little. "So glad I missed that."

"You and Sparky both."

"Where were you two, anyway?" asked Aang.

She shrugged. "I dunno. Hey, when do you think we'll get to the Eastern Air Temple? We're making good time, right?"

"...uh, probably tomorrow night if we keep getting good tailwinds."

"Good. That's good. I hope Guru Pathik can help us out. He's a nice monk. He knows about chakras. Oh!" Her hand shot up in the air, as if she were answering a question. "I know! I bet he can help you make more Airbenders!"

"...maybe you should let me have the bottle."

"No! It's helping me. I don't know how to act around you and it makes things easier." She paused. "Pretend I didn't say that."

Aang tilted his head, a concerned look on his face. "Why don't you know how to act around me?"

"Because we broke up! We had a really big fight and now everything's weird and awkward. And you're being so nice and I don't know how to deal with that." She winced and began to massage her temples. "Oh please someone shut me up."

"Shut up," said Toph.

"Thanks."

"Should I be mean?" asked Aang, bewildered.

Katara sat up and waved her arms in emphasis. "If it helps stuff get resolved, then yes!"

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?" said Toph, head still in Aang's lap.

"What's there left to resolve?" asked Aang, in his calm, I'm the Avatar and I'm wise voice.

"How about the fact that you left me yelling at you to come back and didn't talk to me for a year? You can't do that to someone and just ignore it." Her head swam. She really had drunk too much. Was the bottle really empty already? She was so tired. "I really missed you."

Aang gently slipped out from under Toph, who made a small noise of protest before resting her head on the ground. He half-crawled to Katara. Much to her bewilderment, he took her hand in his.

"Maybe we shouldn't have broken up to begin with."

Katara was so taken aback that she didn't have time to reply before Toph sat up and laughed. "You wanna say that again, Twinkletoes? 'Cause it sounded to me like you just made a really stupid joke."

Aang looked over his shoulder. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Are you stupid? You were miserable together. You probably shouldn't have even dated to begin with."

When Aang spoke, his voice was cool. "What exactly do you mean?"

She stood up, fists clenched, and glared down at him. "What I mean is that you should never. Have. Dated. You nearly ruined your friendship, and for what? So you could live out your little crush on the first girl you ever saw? You're not twelve anymore! You still haven't accepted that you both changed!"

Aang stood up. Katara was surprised to see how much taller he was than Toph. She only came up to his nose. "Katara didn't change. She's still as good and caring as the day I met her!"

"See! That's exactly what I mean!"

Katara's head swam and her stomach hurt. All she wanted to do was lie down and go to sleep. "I changed. I changed and you didn't notice."

Aang looked stricken. "Katara, I'm so sorry, I-"

"Leave her alone! You guys aren't dating anymore, but I don't think you've noticed that either!"

"Is this about the touching thing?"

Toph's voice rose several octaves. "What the hell do you think we're arguing about, genius! And you!" She rounded on Katara. "Aang's not a little kid anymore! He hasn't been one for five years! Stop-"

"Don't attack her!"

Aang was yelling now. Their voices blended together like shouts in a crowd. Katara could no longer keep track of who was saying what. She supposed, deep in her drunken daze, that if she were sober she'd be yelling along with them, but she was so tired. And she felt weird. The stars were moving much faster than they were a few minutes ago. And everything around her was getting darker. Even the fire. She wished Zuko were there. He'd be able to fix the fire. He'd probably carry her to bed, too, and tuck her in. Like last time. It had been so long since they'd talked in person. She missed the way he looked at her when she spoke, like everything she said was important, no matter what she was talking about. She laid back down, Toph's and Aang's shouts washing through her consciousness like waves. She really shouldn't have drunk so much.

The last thing she saw before she passed out was Toph, her hair down from its elaborate bun, shining black-gold in the firelight, her face screwed up in anger. Aang was trying to grab her hand, but she slapped him back and stomped away from the fire. Aang ran after her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Baijiu_ is a real beverage. It is potent. I like to imagine that Toph's family supports a lot of breweries, and that she carries around the good stuff for herself.


	4. Bone

It was cold. The last, vicious cold of early spring, when winter tries to prove that it still has a hold on the world and blankets new growth in blizzards and frost. Katara pulled the hood of her parka over her ears to protect them from the thorny wind. She wasn't sure where she was. It seemed like she was on the edge of an ice cliff, like the one that overlooked the harbor of her home village. She wished she could get a better look at her surroundings, but she was surrounded on all sides by cold mist.

A curious sound came from somewhere in the distance. Where had she heard it before? It was a hollow, rattling sound, somehow familiar, like dried wood falling onto rock, but not quite. She took a few cautious steps forward, always careful to make sure she had her footing before she put her whole weight down on the ice. She could hear the sea very close by, and she wasn't going to risk falling into it, waterbender or not.

After a few seconds, or a few hours, of travel, the snow-covered ground began to slope, and she found herself by the water, where the ice became sand and stone and the sea bent to meet it. She thought she could hear someone in the distance. He was singing to himself in a deep, rich voice. The other sound, the one she couldn't quite place, accompanied him at irregular intervals. She knew the song as one her Gran-Gran would sing while she cooked; a song of the Northern Tribe. She wished she knew the words. Her feet crunched in the snow as she walked.

A man in the rich furs of the North seemed to coalesce from the haze. He sat before the remains of an arctic seal, which he had apparently just finished butchering. Parcels of meat lay in a neat pile behind him, along with a polar leopard pelt and a hunting spear. The man's thick, dark hair hung around his face, obscuring it as he bent over a pile of bones which laid over one another on a cleared patch of stone. As she stood and watched, the man scooped up the bones, rolled them over in his hands, and dropped them back onto the flat rock. They fell with a hollow clatter.

"You're a shaman," she said.

"No," said the man. "Just a traveler with some questions. Sit with me, waterbender."

She sat on her knees, as formal as if she were waiting to be served at a first tier tea shop in Ba Sing Se. She didn't ask how he knew she was a waterbender. It was like he'd always known. He picked up one of his bones and tapped it against the rock, and Katara remembered the sound of creaking wood.

"I know that sound," she said.

"Hollow bones on hollow wood," said the man, and he smiled at her. His eyes wrinkled at the corners like her father's did, and like Aang, he smiled with his whole face. "I know you're looking for someone. I am too. I think we can help each other."

He took another bone from the pile, a long, gently curved one with a sharp tip, and held it out to her. She stared at it for a moment, puzzled.

"Take it," he said.

"I don't know... I can't offer you anything in return," she said, vaguely recalling the words of the Fire Nation man she saw in her last dream.

"You're already helping me. Consider this a loan."

She nodded, and held out her hand. He dropped it into her cupped palm. It was smooth as the handle of a well-used paintbrush. She turned it this way and that and it seemed to get longer and thicker, until it was as thick as her forearm and a little bit longer. The sharp point glistened.

"This isn't from your seal," she said.

"No," the man agreed. "It's from dreams."

"What is... what's it for?"

The man grinned at her a second time. Two of his teeth were longer and pointier than the others.

"Spirits."

* * *

The first thing she realized when she opened her eyes was that it was still dark, and the fire was still going, though it had burned down quite a bit since she last saw it. The second thing was that Toph and Aang were gone. The third was that she was going to vomit. She clapped one hand to her mouth and forced herself to her feet with the aid of the other. She managed to get about fifty feet from the campsite before she emptied the contents of her stomach onto an innocent bush.

It was almost twenty minutes before she could stand without wobbling too much or throwing up again. All those stories Toph had told her about getting roaring drunk with her men during the Food Riots definitely did not end in her vomiting on her hands and knees and wishing she could just die, thanks, and get it over with. She wiped her mouth, grimaced, and bent some water out of the air to wash her hands with. Even that small exertion caused bells to ring in her head. She held her stomach and leaned against a tree, taking long, slow breaths. Everything still wobbled a little when she looked at it. How long was she going to be drunk? She spat onto the ground, wishing Toph were there to tell her.

She began to stagger back to camp, using various rocks and tree trunks for support. Where _was_ Toph, anyway? For that matter, where was Aang? She remembered him chasing after Toph around the time she passed out, but had no memories of them returning to camp. She paused as she got to her sleeping bag. If she held very still, she thought she could hear their voices close by. Well, it wouldn't hurt to look for them, did it? They did abandon her, after all. Holding her stomach and making sure to tread carefully, she walked towards the voices.

"...I don't care," Toph was saying. "You two obviously have some things you have to work out. I'll be back, all right?"

 _What?_ Katara leaned against a huge rock and held still, listening.

"It isn't like that," said Aang. "You're not getting in the way. There's nothing to work out. I don't feel that way about her anymore. Old habits die hard, all right?"

"I don't even need to earthbend to tell you're lying your ass off."

She heard him thwack his staff against the ground. "What is it with you? You know I don't lie if I can help it and you know that I'm not lying now. Here," there was a shuffling noise. "Feel my heart. I'm not in love with her anymore."

There was a long pause before Toph spoke again in a soft, low voice.

"That's the thing, though. You might not be in love with her, but you-" she stopped.

Uh oh.

"Toph, please..."

"Shh. Hey," she shouted. "You getting all this, Sugar-Queen?"

Katara clapped her hands over her mouth just in time for Aang to bend the rock she'd been hiding behind aside.

"You were spying on us!" said Aang, hitting the ground with his staff. The ground shook.

Her head throbbed. "No! Well, yes, but I didn't do it on purpose! You guys were talking and I didn't want to interrupt and then I sort of did it without meaning to." She put her hands on her hips and glared at them. "It's not like you were hiding. You were close enough to overhear from camp. I just wanted to know where you went."

"I can't believe this! Katara, what's gotten into you? I never thought you of all people would stoop to spying on her friends."

Toph snorted. "Please. Katara is a total mom. Spying and snooping are second nature to her."

"How can you say something like that?" exclaimed Aang, just as Katara squeaked, "Excuse me!"

"Relax. I know it's because you care or whatever."

"I don't spy and snoop unless it's for a good cause!" She winced and pulled some water out of the air, freezing it and sliding it back and forth across her forehead. She continued in a quieter voice. "And I do care. I care that you're talking about leaving us. Were you even going to say goodbye to me?"

Toph's eyebrow twitched. "Don't try to guilt trip me. It doesn't work when Twinkletoes does it and it won't work when you do. And yes, if you want to know, I was planning on telling you. In the morning. After you slept off your hangover. How's the head?"

"Throbbing," growled Katara.

"Tch. You drank way too fast. How much was that, five shots in an hour? No wonder you got sick. I can't even do that without serious consequences."

"Nice to know I drank enough to impress you," said Katara through clenched teeth.

"Aw, sarcasm. For me? Snoozles'd be proud."

"Please don't go, Toph," said Aang. "We need you."

"No." Katara recognized Toph's stance. Her arms were folded across her chest, her jaw was set, and her feet were planted firmly on the ground. She wasn't going to budge. She was worse than Aang when he first learned earthbending. She'd made up her mind, and nothing you could do, no arguing, no cajoling, no threats were going to change it. "You two have some things you need to work out, and as long as I'm around, you'll keep using me as a buffer between you. Well, sorry, but I'm not putting up with that. It's not fair to anyone."

Aang brought his staff down. Several rocks jumped. "Do you even care about Zuko?"

There was a beat of silence. Then, Toph marched up to Aang and stuck her finger in the center of his chest. The orange fabric of his tunic wrinkled where she jabbed him. "I care a hell of a lot more than you do. You know why? Because if you cared about saving Sparky's life, you'd spend your time figuring out how to get him out of the Spirit World instead of trying to get back under your ex-girlfriend's _skirt_."

Aang's ears slowly turned a brighter and brighter red while Toph kept her position, her finger digging into his chest. He knocked her hand away.

"Fine!" he shouted. "Fine! Leave! Just don't expect to come back!"

Toph flinched, but held her ground. "As if I'd want to come back to you acting like a lovesick gorilla-monkey!"

"I don't have to listen to this," he growled. He tapped his staff on the ground once and the glider popped out of it.

"Running away again, Twinketoes!" yelled Toph.

"You don't know anything!"

"Wait," said Katara, her voice high. She could see his back disappearing into the blizzard. "Wait. Aang. Where are you going?"

He ignored her. In an instant, he bent the wind he needed to glide and hurled himself into the sky. Katara watched him disappear into a dark bank of clouds.

She turned to Toph. "You didn't have to go that far."

"Yeah, I did," said Toph. She bent her head. Her long hair shadowed her eyes. "He's gotta face this."

"If you keep pushing him, one day he's not going to come back. He doesn't thrive under pressure. He's too easily hurt. Like with his bending, remember?"

"Yeah, well." Toph looked up, and there was a hint of a smile on her face. "We'll see."

Katara glared at her for a while before remembering that facial expressions didn't exactly work on the blind.

"Did you mean what you said earlier?" she said instead. "That I treat Aang like a child?"

"Yeah. Want me to repeat it for you?"

Katara flung the ice she'd been holding up to her forehead to the ground. "No. I don't treat him like a child. I know what he is. He's the Avatar. I went to war with him, in case you don't remember. I saw him wipe out an entire fleet of ships during the Siege of the North. I fought my fear and I held him until he calmed down when he lost control and went into the Avatar state. I know what he's capable of."

"You're also so terrified of hurting him that you dated him for three years longer than you should have."

There was nothing Katara could say to that. Grudgingly, she thought Toph might be on to something, but she sure as hell wasn't going to admit it to her. The girl might sound wise beyond her years sometimes, but she was a cocky teenager first and foremost. She never wasted an opportunity to remind someone that she was right. Not that Katara wasn't guilty of that too, but still.

Katara folded her arms across her chest and looked at the spot in the sky where she last saw Aang. "Well maybe you don't know as much as you think you do."

Toph gave a soft laugh.

"Try talking to him like an adult," she said. "He can take a few emotional blows, Sweetness. Knock him over and you might be surprised."

* * *

It was an hour before dawn. Katara had already banked the fire and thrown her bag and the supplies onto Appa's saddle. The first faint traces of light had turned the sky pale enough that Katara could see Aang as he approached from the South. As soon as he landed, Momo, who had been sleeping in her lap, perked his ears and glided to Aang's shoulder. His posture reminded her of the day he admitted to running away when the monks told him he was the Avatar; shoulders slumped, head down, feet shuffling.

"Hey," she said. "We should go if we want to make the Eastern Air Temple by nightfall."

Appa groaned and shook his head. He nudged Aang, who absently patted his nose.

"Where's Toph?" asked Aang.

"She left." Katara stood up and brushed off her hands. "Didn't think she'd really do it, but she did."

He let out a long sigh. "I guess people can still surprise you, no matter how long you've known them. Or how well you think you do."

Was he trying to be passive-aggressive? She frowned, watching him as he leaned against Appa's flank, his arms outstretched as if for a hug. No. Probably not.

"Ready to go?"

Aang sighed again, his face pressed to Appa. He rubbed his cheek in the great beast's fur, then opened his eyes to look at Katara.

"She's not coming back, is she?"

Katara rubbed her arm and she looked at the ground. "Well, you did tell her not to."

"She can tell if I'm lying. She has to know I didn't mean it."

"Sometimes what you say can be worse than what you mean."

Aang grimaced. "I've really got to work on that." He threw his single bag onto Appa's saddle.

Katara climbed up after it. "Work on what?"

"Saying things without thinking. Ugh!" He slapped both his hands to his forehead. "How does she always know how to set me off like that? I'm the Avatar, I'm supposed to resolve my conflicts peacefully!" He spread his hands wide and let them drop to his sides.

She remembered how she threatened Zuko's life when he joined them, how she couldn't stop herself from insulting him every night at dinner, how she ordered him to bring her mother back, how he sneered as he fought her at the Spirit Oasis, how he'd shouted that he'd changed.

"I don't know," she said. "Zuko does that to me, too, and I've never been able to figure it out."

Aang settled onto his place at the reins. There was an odd look on his face. "I'm glad we never fought like that, Katara. We really had something really special."

Katara pressed her lips together. "Mmm."

Aang looked as if he wanted to say something more, but instead, he turned to face the east, where the first yellow rays of the sun were beginning stretch their long fingers over the horizon. He cracked the reins, shouted, "Yip yip!" and Appa ran into the sky.

* * *

They didn't say very much to each other during their journey. When they spoke at all, it was about the weather, or the mission. Katara was all for plunging headfirst into the Spirit World and seeking out any help they could find, but Aang advised a cautious approach. The few times he'd been there, it had struck him as a very dangerous place, and especially dangerous for benders. People used to defending themselves with their inborn gifts of controlling the elements often faltered in the face of losing those gifts. If they were to make any progress in finding Zuko, it would be a better idea to proceed carefully, and with the help of whichever spirits were willing to lend their assistance. Though, he admitted, the ones he'd encountered aside from Hei-Bai had either been utterly unhelpful or scary beyond all reason. Katara didn't like to imagine something that could be worse than the shadow spirits. She reached into her pocket and wished that she still had the bone the man in her dream had given her. When she checked her sleeping bag after waking up, it wasn't there. Maybe it had never been there at all.

"Can things exist in the Spirit World and not exist here?" she asked Aang.

"Hm. That's an interesting question. I'd say it's probably a mixture of yes and no. Tui and La, for example, have mortal forms at the Spirit Oasis in the North Pole, but also manifest as the Moon and the ocean along with the forms they take when they travel through the Spirit World."

"So if a Spirit gave you something, it might not follow you back to the real world?"

"Depends on what it is, I guess. Sorry I can't be more help. It was the older monks who knew a lot about this kind of thing. Kids like me only got taught airbending and basic philosophy. The Spirit World stuff was for airbenders who'd reached their twentieth year. Why?"

Katara frowned as she thought. She tried to picture the man who'd given her the bone, but all she could see was a white blur.

"I don't really remember," she said. "I feel like someone gave me something last night, but it wasn't there when I got up. A bone."

"If you're meant to have it, you'll have it again," said Aang. "Be careful, though. It's dangerous to accept gift from spirits. They usually come with surprise conditions."

* * *

It was a few hours until midnight when the Eastern Air Temple came into sight. Katara couldn't see much of it, as the moon getting close to new. But from what she could tell, it sat on several mountain peaks connected by arching bridges made of white stone. It was too dark to make out the individual buildings on each peak, but the asymmetry in their shadows suggested ruin. She wished that she could have seen them in daylight.

"There it is," said Aang, pointing with his staff. "This is where Appa spent his childhood. Isn't it, boy?"

Appa let out a happy-sounding roar, and picked up speed. Katara's heart raced. Soon they'd land. Soon they'd find Guru Pathik. Soon they'd find a way into the Spirit World. Soon they'd find Zuko.

They circled the lowest peak, which seemed to be a garden. On a raised, conical formation, Katara thought she saw the silhouette of a man sitting in the lotus position.

"Is that him?" she asked, clutching her hair so that it wouldn't fly in her face.

"Looks like it!" Aang stood up in the saddle and waved. "Hey! Guru Pathik!"

Appa drifted in for a landing just as the man on the rock lifted his face. They were just close enough now that Katara saw his eyes widen, and his lips pull into a grin so wide that all the wrinkles on his face folded in on one another. He sprung to his feet just as Aang soared off the top of the sky bison and they collided in a tangle of skinny limbs.

"Aang! My student, my wonderful, brave student!" said the Guru. "You overcame your attachments and defeated the Fire Lord! I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am of you."

"Um, yeah. I guess I did." Aang rubbed the back of his head with one hand and swept the other in Katara's direction. "This is Katara. You probably remember me talking about her."

Katara slid off the saddle and onto the rocky ground. "Guru Pathik," she said, and bowed. "It's an honor to meet you."

"Ah," he said. "Yes. Miss Seventh Chakra. I am happy to meet you."

He clapped his hands together and bowed.

"Thank you, sir. Aang's told me a lot about you."

"I trust he mentioned only my best traits." Pathik said, and his eyes smiled at her. "Come. You have had a long journey, I think, one you have not made lightly. Let me offer you refreshment."

"Onion-banana juice!" Aang exclaimed.

 _Onion-banana juice?_ she thought. As she followed the two excitedly chatting monks, she hoped very hard that onion-banana was a metaphor for something.

* * *

Katara sniffed the half-coconut shell Guru Pathik handed to her and forced herself not to recoil.

_Nope. Definitely not a metaphor._

"Drink up!" said the Guru. "It's excellent for the spirit!"

She took a tiny sip, tried not to gag, and set her shell down. "It's great," she lied.

The Guru seemed satisfied. Aang was apparently enjoying his share. He was already on his second coconut. She wished that he'd learned how to enjoy sea prunes that way while they were in the South Pole. Then again, she supposed she didn't have the power of persuasion an old and revered spiritual expert did.

"...and he's stuck there," Aang finished. "So we need to get into the Spirit World, and you're the only person I could think of who could help. That, and you were way closer than the Spirit Oasis. So what do you think?"

Pathik drained his half-shell of juice, turned it upside down, and placed it on his head. "Ah! The Spirit World! Not a journey one should undertake lightly. Not even the Avatar."

"Believe me, we're not undertaking this lightly," said Aang. "I've been to the Spirit World. I know how dangerous it can be." He put his hand to his heart. "Zuko is my teacher, and one of my greatest friends. I owe my life to him."

Pathik raised both palms. "There is no owing in this existence. No debts; only the free exchange inherent in all friendships."

"Please, Guru," said Katara. She set her mostly full coconut aside. "If there's anything you can tell us about the Spirit World, we'd really appreciate it."

"Gratitude is an illusion. I will help because I will help. Life is messy, so we must help each other wade through it. Therefore, a word of advice, and a word of caution." He held up one finger. The coconut shell slid off his head and onto the stone plaza. Momo leaped from a shadow and attacked it. "There is a place nearby. At the foot of this mountain, to be exact, in the Black Sea of Trees, where the fabric between this world and the other world is thin. It can be easily crossed by one with such energy as the Avatar. But it is not a safe place. Or a happy one. You must be certain if you are to take this path."

Aang and Katara exchanged glances. She nodded. Aang turned back to Pathik and repeated her gesture. "We're certain. Tell us what we need to do."

Pathik steepled his fingers. "One hundred years ago, before Sozin's Comet came, it was common practice for the inhabitants of nearby villages to leave their sick or elderly or their unwanted children in the care of the nuns at this temple. A small temple located deep in the forest at the base of this mountain served as a way station between this place and the villages. The nuns would not ask questions. They would accept who was given to them, and they would bring them here to be raised, or cared for until death."

Katara raised her hand to her mouth, horrified. She knew what Pathik was going to say next.

"This practice, I am sorry to say, did not stop when the Air Nomads vanished."

"That's... that's barbaric!" shouted Aang. "Why didn't anyone do anything about it! Why didn't you?"

Guru Pathik shook his head. His eyes and his voice were dim in the thin starlight. "I am only one man. Those I found, I have saved, but I cannot save everyone. I have tried."

"This is still happening, isn't it?" said Katara. It wasn't really a question.

"It is not as common now as it once was. But yes. It still happens from time to time."

"Then we'll stop it," said Aang. He pointed his staff at Pathik. "It won't happen again."

"I believe it will take more than force to change people's ways, Aang. Not even the hungry ghosts that haunt the forest have deterred some of the more desperate. What is needed is the return of balance to this place. The return of the Air Nomads."

Aang's grip on his staff faltered. He glanced at Katara, then quickly refocused on Pathik. She hated the way a heavy stone of guilt settled in her stomach.

"I'm working on it," said Aang, firmly. "One day this place will be full of airbenders again. I promise you that."

Pathik clapped his hands together. "I am happy to hear this! The Eastern Air Temple will never be complete unless it is full of flying nuns again."

Aang blinked. "Didn't the Ember Island Players do a play about that?"

Pathik shrugged. "Tomorrow I will take you to the forest. Tonight it is not safe."

"Why?" asked Katara. "Are there bandits?"

"No. Well, probably. The danger is in the ghosts who have lost their way."

"Their way to where?" asked Aang.

"The way out," said Pathik. "In their confusion, they search the forest for those who abandoned them there, hungry for solace or revenge."

"Maybe we can help them when we're in the Spirit World, Aang," said Katara. "Find out where they need to go and lead them there."

Aang frowned and scratched the back of his head. "I don't know. The monks used to say that every spirit, when its life has ended, goes to the Great Wheel of Reincarnation to be given a new body. The problem with that is I have no idea where it is. Roku might know..." he tapped the ground with his staff, thinking.

"It would be a good first step," said Pathik. "For now, we must rest. A rested body is the foundation of a vital spirit. There are good places to sleep in the barracks." He nodded to the mostly intact building behind them. "Have a restful night!"

The Guru bowed to them. Aang and Katara returned the gesture, and when she straightened up, he was gone.

"Wow. I thought only airbenders could do that."

"Guru Pathik has the spirit of an airbender," said Aang, absently.

Something tugged at the corner of Katara's thoughts. Something she probably thought of when she was drunk. She frowned and tried to remember, but all she could see were images of Aang and Toph arguing.

"I'd better go take care of Appa. He hates sleeping in his saddle," Aang continued.

"Do you need any help?"

"No, I'm good. Hey, will you be awake later?"

Katara pressed her lips together. "I don't know. I'm pretty tired. Why?"

"I just wanted to talk."

She shifted her weight. "I can't promise anything. Knock before you come in. If I don't answer, I'm probably asleep already."

"That's fine. See you later, Katara."

He made an air scooter and rode it across the bridge. She watched him go, her pulse rising.

* * *

One thing Katara already loved about the Eastern Air Temple was the abundance of water. Everywhere she walked, she could feel active, bubbling springs pouring from the mountain. The room she picked faced a stream with several small circular pools connected by tiny waterfalls. If she sat on the windowsill, she could dip her hands in the water without needing to bend it. She wished she could have something like that at the South Pole.

The blankets Pathik had told her about were warm and felt newer than the ones she'd managed to scrounge up during her stay in the Western Air Temple. She suspected that he used them for the people he periodically found in the forest. She offered a quick thanks to the last occupant of the room before she settled on her cot. She hoped that they'd managed to find some peace before they left. One way or another.

After a half hour had passed, she decided to try and sleep. Aang had probably gotten sidetracked chasing Momo or something. Not that it mattered, really. She was tired, especially after the events of the previous night. If Aang wanted to talk, he could wait until morning.

She had just returned from the kitchen with a hot cup of her sleeping concoction when Aang knocked on the door. She slapped her hand to her forehead, took a deep breath, and said, "Come in."

He shut the door behind him. "Hi."

"Hi," she said, trying not to sound too exasperated. "What took you?"

"Nothing. Just looking at the place. It hasn't really changed since the last time I was here."

She held her hand in front of her mouth and yawned. "Was that when Guru Pathik taught you about chakras?"

Aang ran his finger over her windowsill. "Yeah. He really got me thinking about stuff. Repopulating the temples. Reviving Air Nomad philosophy. Did I tell you that I haven't even found any scrolls on it? Guess they all burned a hundred years ago with the temples."

Katara leaned against the wall, her knees to her chest. "Too bad we can't get into Wan Shi Ton's library. He probably has an entire wing dedicated to it."

Aang sat on the edge of her cot. "I was thinking I might try to write it down eventually. Maybe ask Guru Pathik and Bumi for help. They're the only other people I know who still remember the Air Nomads."

"Is that what you wanted to talk about?" She gave a sympathetic smile and patted his hand.

"Yeah. It's really lonely being one of a kind sometimes. This temple used to be full of airbenders and sky bison and lemurs... this is where I picked out Appa. He was so small." He paused. "Well, he was still as big as I was, but that's pretty small for a sky bison. One day I'd really like to bring them back."

"Sky bison?" Katara thought for a moment. "You know, even if you don't find any other ones, I bet you could still find an animal that Appa could breed with. Sokka was telling me about it last time I saw him. He says its called livestock marriage or something like that."

"Animal husbandry," corrected Aang.

She wrinkled her nose. "Who came up with that name?"

Aang laughed. "I have no idea. It's pretty ridiculous, isn't it?"

She laughed, too. She'd really missed this. They used to have so much fun together laughing and penguin-sledding and going to festivals before hormones got in the way. Aang was the person who taught her that it was okay to have fun once in a while. Her first real friend.

"You're the only other person who really knows what it's like to be the last of something," said Aang. "The last Southern Waterbender. The last Airbender. It's really lucky that we found each other. It's like destiny."

"Yeah. I'm glad I met you, too, Aang."

Aang's mouth made a straight line. "That's not what I meant. You know that's not what I meant. Why do you always do that?"

"Do what?" She picked at her blanket.

"Talk to me like I'm some... like I'm just a dumb kid that you're humoring. I can handle reality, Katara. You don't have to shelter me from it anymore. You never did."

She drew her head back a fraction of a centimeter. "I don't shelter you. Sure, I get stuck in mom mode sometimes, but that's because I did my best to take care of you and everyone else during the war. I mother everyone. You can't seriously believe that I treat you like a kid. I dated you! Why would I date someone I thought of as a kid?"

"I don't know." He folded his arms across his chest and stared out the window. "That was one of the things I was never able to figure out."

"I mother everyone who acts like a kid," she snapped. "You're not a special case."

"So you do think I act like a kid."

"You do!" She forcefully brushed her hair over her shoulder and groaned when her hand got caught in the tangles. "Sometimes you do, okay? I don't have to like it all the time. Once in a while I'd like it if you acted like an adult. But that doesn't mean that I treat you any differently than I treat anyone else."

Aang looked at her as if she'd grown tentacles. "Are you kidding me? You don't treat Z-"

"I don't want to talk about it!" she snapped, and turned to face the wall.

Aang went quiet. The cloth of Katara's bed was suddenly scratchy and uncomfortable underneath her bare legs. She could hear a hot blacksmith's hammer in her ears and the cold trickle of water outside her window. She wanted to drown it until it stopped.

"You know," said Aang, his voice a little strangled, "There were a lot of reasons I fell in love with you. One of them was that I thought you'd be a good mom. I still can't imagine anyone else as the mother of my kids."

Her head snapped around. "Is that what you think of me? The mother of your kids? I'm my own person, Aang. I'm not-"

"That's not what I meant!" He pointed at her. "It's like you're trying to find a reason to be mad at me!"

"Oh, I don't need to find a reason," she spat. "You're giving me plenty yourself."

"Only because you keep deliberately misinterpreting what I say!"

"Well maybe you should think before you speak!"

Aang groaned and slid one hand down his face. "I don't think of you as just a mother, okay? I love you, Katara. _I love you_. I've loved you since I first saw you. Why can't you understand that?"

"I do understand it!" she shouted. Something in her twisted. Her voice cracked. "I understand it better than you do! You could never- you- I can't be with you, Aang!"

He sagged. "You make it sound like it was such a trial."

"No. No. That's not it at all. You were a good boyfriend. Things were... we weren't good as lovers."

Aang's eyes went wide. "Lovers? Was I not- was I-" he gestured with his hands.

"No! No, it wasn't that at all!" heat surfaced on her cheeks. "You were fine! You just..."

"I just what?"

"You just..." she weakly gestured with her hand. "You always made me feel so perfect."

"How is that bad!"

"How many times did we fight when we were together?" she demanded. "Twice? Once about the meat thing and once when you left me for good? How many times was I awful to you and you didn't even react? Hundreds? I wanted you to react to me! I wanted you to give me some sign that I could make you feel something other than... than... reverence!"

"But conflict doesn't solve anything. It only leads to broken bridges and festering wounds. I thought you understood that."

She threw up her hands. "See? That's exactly what I mean! You say I treat you like kid? You don't even treat me like I'm a real person."

"No! No, I-" He was pale. "Katara, you're more real to me than anyone. Can't you see that?"

"You left me!" she cried. "You can't come back and ask me to be with you again!" She felt herself start to cry and grit her teeth against it. "I miss you. I do. But you _can't do this_."

She couldn't look at him. She couldn't. She leaned against the wall and squeezed her eyes shut. She could hear him breathing, slowly and raggedly, like a cracked bellows, and she hated it. She hated herself.

Aang grabbed her hand. She squeezed it, hard.

"So there's no chance?" he asked.

She shook her head, still facing the wall. "No. I'm glad we had what we had. But it's over. It's not coming back."

Aang sighed, and she felt him turn away from her. She looked over her shoulder. He slowly got to his feet, using his staff as support. He sniffed, wiped the back of his hand across his eyes, then let his arm drop to his side.

"Does _he_ make you feel perfect?" he asked, his voice harsh.

Her heart stopped beating. She remembered ice, palm wine, a fire. "What?"

"Never mind. It's funny," he said, and she nearly jumped off her cot. "Everything I did during the war, I did to impress you. I threw away the Avatar state for you. Remember how I couldn't do it for a while? It's because I couldn't let you go. I loved you too much."

"Aang, please..."

"Don't. Just... don't." He hoisted himself onto her windowsill. The breeze ruffled his clothes. "At least you tried, right?"

"Please don't be this way."

"Whatever, Katara." He unfolded his glider. "I just wish I was good enough for you."

He was gone before she could reply. She slammed herself onto the cot, buried her face in her pillow, and screamed.

* * *

Heat. Fog. White sun. Yellow sky. Katara rolled her hair around her habitual bun, tucked the end under the hairband that secured it in place. She fished in her pocket for another hairband, and her fingers closed on something smooth and hard. Frowning, she pulled it out of her pocket.

It was a bone. Her eyes widened.

_"What's it for?"_

_"Spirits."_

She held it between her thumb and forefingers and flicked her wrist. The bone stretched until it was as long as Sokka's sword. She flicked her wrist again, and it was the size of a small paintbrush.

"Thank you," she muttered.

She wasn't in the habit of thanking higher powers, but if anyone was a higher power, it was probably the spirit that had given her this bone. Everything about it suggested weapon. Without her bending, she needed a weapon. She was grateful to have at least that.

She slipped the bone back into her pocket and looked around the clearing. The crumbling remains of a small shine sat in its center. Curious, she walked over to it. A lumpy facsimile of a human sat sheltered inside it. Someone had tied a red cloth around its neck. There was something strangely touching about that. She knelt down and cleared away the brush that was encroaching on the little shrine. When she was done, she sat back, placed her palms together, and bowed her head.

"Katara?"

"Zuko?" she called. She got to her feet and cupped her hands to her mouth. "Can you hear me?"

"Uh... yes?"

Every muscle in her body went stiff, then weak as one of Aang's noodles. She almost didn't want to turn around. _What if it's a trick? What if it's one of those shadow things, mimicking his voice? Can they do that? I'll kill them if they can._ She shifted one foot, then the other, tearing a shallow trough in the ruddy earth.

There he was. Zuko. He stood there in the same black kimono she'd left him in, and waved at her as if they'd just spotted each other across a street.

"Hi," he said. "Zuko here."

She took a step forward, then broke into a run. She wanted to collide with him. She wanted to sink her fingers into his skin, hold him at arm's length, and demand to know why the hell he hadn't figured out how to do this a week ago. She wanted to bury her face in his neck and smell the heat of him just so she knew he was alive. His good eye widened and he lifted his arms just enough for her to consider his permission granted. Not that she needed it.

When she reached him, however, she didn't stop. She slid through him like he was a cloud and nearly slammed into a tree.

"What the-?" She whipped around and tried to touch him again, but her hand passed through him exactly as her body.

Zuko seemed just as confused as she was. He reached for her, to touch her on the shoulder, it looked like, and his hand slowly melted through her. He did it a second time with the same result.

"What's happening?" she asked. "Why can't I touch you?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's me who can't touch you." His hand passed through her face again. "It's like you're not even there."

"There's no way it's me. I'm not the one in a coma."

"A coma?" Zuko swallowed. He held up his hand and examined the place where the assassin's dart had landed. "I see. How long?"

She bit her lip. "Three weeks now. I tried everything I could to get you to wake up, but you just... wouldn't. I'm so sorry."

His knees gave and he buckled to the ground like a piece of rotten wood. He buried his face in his hands, shoulders heaving. Was he weeping?

"I'm so sorry!" she cried. She knelt next to him. "I should have trained more at the Healing Hut! Yugoda told me to nurture my gift but I was too stubborn to train and I should have learned when I could and I'm so sorry!"

The sound of his laughter brought her back from her tirade of self-deprecation. He sat up straight and hugged himself, shaking with laughter. She was mildly offended.

She pointed at him, frowning. "Did you do that on purpose? Because if you did-"

"I'm not dead," he wiped a tear from his eye. "I thought I was dead."

She couldn't hold back a smile. "Yes. You're still alive."

"I could hear you dreaming. You were the only one I could hear. And you answered me." He tried to grab her hand, but it was the same as before. Something passed over his face. It was the same look she saw every time he talked about how much he'd like to find his mother, if only he could leave the Fire Nation and start. "I wish I could touch you."

"Me too." She hugged herself and ran her hands up and down her arms. "Oh, you have no idea. No idea. I can't believe you're here." She paused. "How are you here?"

He shook his head and scanned the area, took in the yellow sky, the floating plants, the twisted trees and the crumbling remains shrines that seemed to dot every clearing. "I don't know. It's like when I call to you. You're the only direction I can go."

"'It's always you,' huh?"

He looked at her and she saw a smile in his eyes. "Yeah. It's always you."

She laid her hand over his own and they mingled like two shadows. "Aang and I are going to find you. We know how to get into the Spirit World now. I don't know how you got stuck here but we're going to find you and we're going to get you out of there. You have to be here somewhere."

Zuko half smiled and began to say something, then stopped and frowned. "Has it gotten darker?"

She looked over her shoulder. It _had_ gotten darker. She could no longer see into the trees. It was like someone had dropped a black cloth between them and the rest of the Spirit World. Then, she noticed the shadows. They were moving. Like creeping tar, they slowly flowed towards them. She scrambled to her feet.

"What are they?" asked Zuko, as they both stood, eyes fixed on the slithering dark.

"I don't know. I hope they're not what I think they are." She remembered the fat shadows at the feast. "If so, we might be in trouble."

They stood back to back. The shadows stopped a few feet from them. It was as if they were in the center of a fat pillar of light, and beyond that, there was only darkness.

"Quick," she said. "Tell me everything you can about where you think you are. I don't think we have much time."

"I can't see anything. Something's over my eyes. It's sticky... and soft. And thick. Like..." he seemed to be searching for an appropriate comparison.

"Seaweed?" she supplied. A tendril of shadow whipped out at her foot, then seemed to scuttle back. It stung where it touched her. "Keep talking."

"I can feel wind. And I can hear your voice. I can always hear your voice."

The shadows crept still nearer. Something was burning against Katara's thigh. Not burning like fire, but like ice. Like the glaciers back home when she touched them with her bare hands. She shoved her hand into her pocket and her hand closed around bone. She pulled it out of her pocket. It glinted like an icicle in her hand.

As one, the shadow spirits jerked backwards. It was like they'd been shot with lightning. They still surrounded them, but now they hung back, afraid. Katara smiled and took a step forward. The shadows drew back an equal distance. Relief crept cautiously into her chest.

"There's something in my throat..." Zuko dissolved into hacking coughs.

"Zuko!" she spun around just in time to see him claw at his throat and snuff out like a candle. Her own voice was stillborn.

"Oh my, my, my. You aren't supposed to be here," a singsong voice cut a path through the shadows like white fire, and Katara opened her eyes.


	5. Interlude - Dedication

_Winter, ASC 103, Year of the Pig_

The Dedication of the Southern Waterbending Academy began as an austere and dignified affair. Delegates from all nations were in attendance, from Kings Kuei and Bumi to Chief Arnook of the Northern Water Tribe to Fire Lord Zuko and his Uncle Iroh, the Dragon of the West, to Avatar Aang as stand-in for the Air Nomads. After each official accepted Chief Hakoda's hospitality, they sat through the naming of the teachers, the presentation of pelts, the speeches from Chiefs Hakoda and Arnook, and the melting of the doors with the same respectful silence. Then Aang, in his capacity as the Avatar, led the Four Nations into the newly constructed Academy.

Murmurs echoed throughout the Great Hall. The Academy was a beautiful building. Sokka, with the help of the Mechanist and a few seasoned architects from the Northern Tribe, had designed it to be the longest building in the newly rebuilt South Pole. It sat in the very center of the village, surrounded by a sprinkling of new houses and a sea of tents. The grand canal flowed away from it in great spokes. A pool of water that connected to the canal outside served as the centerpiece for the great hall. This was where Katara waited with two of her students.

The delegates settled around her in a semicircle. That was when Sokka cued the Waltzing Phoenixes (a band that happened to form right around the time Aang gave his Fire Nation dance party) and she and her students began to dance. They made columns of water. They held veils of water up to torches and made rainbows. They hurled delicate shapes back and forth to one another. They pulled members of the audience onto their pool and led them in circles. At some point, the dance turned into a party. Probably when Toph and Sokka began to pass out drinks.

Katara wiggled her toes in her fur-lined moccasins. The central fire, which burned on a raised platform of stone (courtesy of Toph), created a wonderful island of warmth in the midst of all that ice. It was long after dark, and most of the party attendees had gone to their respective lodgings. Whatever stragglers were left had all gone to sleep where they'd fallen, including Suki, Sokka, Toph, and Ty Lee. Aang had left some time ago, claiming tiredness, though she suspected it was because he wanted to spend some time with Bumi before he left in the morning. She and Zuko sat near the fire, sharing a bowl of palm wine that he'd brought from the Fire Nation. It was thick and sweet and clung to her skin where it touched.

"I can't believe both you and Iroh made it," she said. "You always go on about how hard it is to get away. Have you been lying to me every time I've asked you to come visit us?" She made a face at him over her bowl.

Zuko smiled. He had long since taken the crown out of his hair. It sat discarded with his gloves and overcoat. "No. This is a state visit. It's different."

"Huh. Not worried about someone staging a revolution and stealing your crown while you're gone?"

He accepted the bowl from her. His hair fell into his eyes. "Things are a lot better than they were two years ago. The price of rice is down. There hasn't been a riot since I sent representatives to all the villages. Plus I think Toph may have terrified most of their leaders into inaction."

They looked across the room, where Toph was sleeping on a pile of furs, her hand curled around her hairband. She'd ripped it out of her hair earlier, declaring she was too drunk to have a headache. Then she'd passed out in Ty Lee's lap.

"Terrifying."

"You've seen her in battle. She's got the Rough Rhinos eating out of her hand."

He passed the bowl back to Katara.

"She certainly managed to terrorize that poor cabbage merchant earlier." As she lifted the bowl to her mouth, Katara recalled the way the man's cabbages had scattered onto the dance floor when Toph knocked over his cart during her demonstration of real Gaoling-style metalbending. Half of them had been trampled, and the other half nearly eaten by Bosco. The cabbage merchant had to go lie down after that. "Why would you even try to sell cabbages in the South Pole?"

Zuko shrugged. "To corner the market?"

She laughed, and to her pleasant surprise, Zuko joined in. She clutched her sides and laughed harder, mostly because he was laughing, too.

"My people eat meat stuffed with more meat and seaweed," she said once she could talk again. "The day he makes a market for cabbage here is the day Sokka becomes a vegetarian."

She passed the bowl of palm wine to him. He took it and cradled it in his lap without drinking. "You never know. Anything's possible with enough dedication."

"Well, we'll see." She shifted into a more comfortable position. Zuko ran his thumb over the rim of the bowl. He didn't seem to be paying attention to what he was doing, instead choosing to stare with half-lidded eyes into the fire.

"Something on your mind?" she asked.

He set the bowl aside. "Not really. Just thinking about Mai."

"Ah. I noticed she wasn't here."

Zuko rolled his shoulders as if shrugging off an invisible hand. "She didn't want to come. I don't even know why she wouldn't come. I even told her Ty Lee would be here, but she flat-out refused."

"Well..." said Katara, slowly. "She's probably got her reasons..."

"Whatever. I'm done asking. She never tells me anything."

She ran her finger back and forth across the fur she sat on, making a trail in it. "So you two are still having problems?"

He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "I don't know if you could call them problems. It's not like we argue."

"But you don't agree, or disagree, or even say much of anything to each other anymore," she finished. "I'd call that a problem."

He twisted to look at her, clearly annoyed. "Do you memorize my letters?"

She laughed. "No. I remember what's in them because I care about you. Remember? All the gory details? I don't skim them for the jokes."

"No, you probably don't."

She reached out and nudged him on the arm. "Come on. What's up? Maybe I can help."

He looked at her, then back at the fire. He beckoned to it and a tuft of flame, _like sun-colored feathers_ , thought Katara, wafted to his palm. He bent it into shapes as he spoke.

"She used to be so passionate. The way she kissed, the way she fought with me when I was being stupid, they way she told me I was being stupid... she isn't like that with anyone else. The most anyone else gets from her is sarcasm. Even her parents. Especially her parents. We really had something... special." He paused, seemingly lost in his flame shaping. "Lately it's like she doesn't even notice me anymore. We act like strangers. No." The flame flared. "We act like acquaintances. People you have to be polite to when you see them but you don't care if you ever see again."

He snuffed out the flame. "It's probably my fault."

"You think everything is your fault."

"Most of the time it is!" He slumped over, elbows on his knees.

She sighed. He really did have a problem with guilt. No reason not to make fun of him for it, though. "Okay. Granted, most of the time it is your fault. I can't really argue with you there."

Zuko groaned and clapped one hand over his eyes. "That's it. All my relationships are doomed."

"You didn't let me finish! You can be really stubborn when you're absolutely convinced that you're right, you know that?"

"That's something we have in common."

She folded her arms across her chest and glared at him. "Do you want me to help you with your stupid relationship or not? Because I am this close," she held her forefinger and thumb half an inch apart, "To freezing you to the ceiling and letting you melt yourself free."

Instead of being intimidated, he smiled. "I'll be good."

" _Good_ ," she said. "Now. As I was saying, before you jump to conclusions, it might not be your fault this time, as likely as that sounds. Maybe she's just bored."

"Wow," he said. "Mai? Bored? I never would have guessed. Hold on while I go find Sokka and tell him someone's surpassed his prowess in deductive reasoning."

"You know what," she said, her tone ice, "If you're going to be nasty to me, I'm going to go to bed."

She stood up to go, and he caught her by the wrist. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm just... frustrated. Please stay."

His fingertips settled on the underside of the wrist. The heat from his touch traveled up her arm and through her chest, where it settled somewhere around her belly.

"Are you really sorry this time?" she asked, glaring.

"Really."

"Really?"

"Yes! Really! Why don't you trust me?"

She arched her eyebrow so high it disappeared under her hair.

Zuko winced. "Sorry. Forget I asked that. Sit down. Please?"

She slowly took her place next to him on the pile of skins around the fire, her hand gently clutching the wrist he'd grasped. "I don't have to be here, you know. I could be at home, in my warm, comfortable bed, cuddling with my boyfriend."

Zuko's mouth opened, then closed. He narrowed his eyes at her, not aggressively, but as if he wasn't exactly sure he understood what she'd just said. "You and Aang still sleep in the same bed? I thought you were having trouble-" he made a motion with his hands.

She linked hers together in her lap. She could feel a hot blush creeping into her cheeks as she spoke. "Things are still a little... strained in that department." She let out a quick, dry laugh. "It's actually kind of funny that you're frustrated with Mai's lack of passion and I'm having trouble dealing with Aang's... over-enthusiasm."

Her face lit up like a comet as she recalled the last time they'd tried "being intimate," as she called it. It wasn't that she didn't like the idea. On the contrary, she had a litany of fantasies and hours of solo practice that proved that she very much liked the idea. It was just... Aang. He approached the subject with all the enthusiasm that he approached life with, while simultaneously managing to treat her as if she were an ice sculpture that would melt if she got too hot. At the same time, she wasn't sure she could even fathom the idea of the sweet, caring boy she'd dated since he was twelve as a participant in any one of her fantasies. She couldn't even talk about it with him. The result was an awkward, fumbling series of attempts at intimacy littered with awkward questions, jokes, and mutual discomfort that ended with both parties unsatisfied. Lately, he'd stopped trying at all. Katara didn't like feeling so relieved about it.

"I could talk to him," said Zuko, rubbing the back of his head and looking away. "Maybe he just needs a few pointers."

She hid her face in her hands. "Don't, please don't. I seriously don't know if I'd be able to handle that kind of humiliation."

Zuko grabbed the bowl of palm wine and took a long drink. "Here," he held out the bowl to her. "You need this."

"Thanks." She stretched her arm to take it and her fingers brushed his. They came away sticky with wine. She set the bowl down and licked the sugary substance off each finger in turn. She didn't notice Zuko staring at her until she licked her last finger clean. "What?"

He swallowed. "Nothing."

She took a long drink. She wished more than anything that there was an easy solution that she and Zuko just weren't seeing. She still vividly recalled the day she decided once and for all that she would give Aang what he so clearly wanted from her. If she didn't feel that way about him at first, why couldn't she grow to feel it? She'd read so many romance scrolls, heard so many stories about arranged relationships eventually blossoming into something beautiful. It should work for her, right? She loved Aang. Why couldn't she love him a different way, too?

Katara set the bowl aside. "Honestly? I don't think Aang's the problem. I think it's me."

"Why would you say that?"

"Because I don't really..." She gestured at him with her head. "You know. It's pretty obvious that he likes it. I just can't..."

"Get into it," finished Zuko. He met her eyes. "I know what you mean."

The tightness in her chest eased a little. "So you and Mai..."

"Not always. Not in the beginning. Things used to be so... intense."

"Intense," she said. She felt her pulse quicken. "I like intense."

"You would," he muttered.

"What?"

He shifted. "Intense things. You'd like them. It's in your bending. Every time we fought, you were so powerful. So skilled with your element. Every time I saw the look on your face I knew that I'd have to fight for every inch. There were times I wanted to beat you so badly I couldn't think straight. But you never let me."

Heat rose in her neck. "We fought a lot, didn't we?"

"Any chance I had, I took it."

She hugged her knees. "Same here. You made me so mad. When you finally joined us I wanted to hurt you so much for what you did to us. For what you did to me."

"I wanted you to. I wanted you to punish me for it."

Her breathing hitched. "We're not talking about fighting anymore, are we?"

"No," he agreed.

She began to inch towards him. "What happens now?"

"Whatever you want."

"Not what you want?"

"It's your turn to decide. No more sacrifices."

"No more sacrifices," she agreed. She licked her lips. "Let's see if I'm the problem."

She pushed herself forward with her knees until she was on all fours. Then she lifted one hand and lightly grazed the scarred side of Zuko's face with her fingertips. He went very still and closed his eyes. His burn was dry and slick as the crystals in the cave under Ba Sing Se. She could taste his breath in her mouth. It was like palm wine.

The first brush of his lips against hers sent a current of heat from her neck to her spine. Then he brought his hand to her face and the heat spread to her fingers and toes and she thought this is it, this is what's missing and wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him to her, without breaking the kiss. He made a sound in his throat like 'ah,' and began to trail one hand up and down her back. The other slipped into the front of her shirt and skated over her the skin of her belly. She leaned into his hand.

Something clattered a few feet away. They broke apart. Sokka, apparently still extremely drunk, had stumbled onto the fire platform and kicked over one of the forgotten cups of alcohol. Panic rose in Katara's chest. What if he'd seen them? He'd never keep the information to himself. Aang would never be able to look at her again. Suki would hate her. And her father. What would her father think? What was she doing?

"Sokka?" she called.

He squinted at her over the fire. "Izzat my baby sister?" He stumbled onto the skins. Zuko slowly withdrew his hand from the underside of Katara's shirt and scooted approximately ten feet away. "What're you...? S'not right. Go to bed."

"You go to bed," she automatically said.

"I'm the big brother," he pointed a wobbly finger to his chest. "What I say goes."

"Oh please. Like I haven't been darning your socks since you were eight."

"M'responsible," he mumbled. "Said I'd look after you. Dad'll be mad."

She rolled her eyes. Time to switch tactics. "I saw you with Suki earlier. Looks like you made up."

"Suki!" An expression of pure bliss washed over Sokka's face. "I love her. She's th'best. Don't deserve 'er. Even Yue couldn'a been a better girl. No offense!" He looked at the ceiling and frowned, apparently expecting to see Yue herself gazing sorrowfully down at him. As it was, the great hall had not been installed with a skylight.

"Well?" she said, after a few very long seconds of this. "Aren't you going to find her?"

"Huh? Right. Hey, where's...?" he shaded his eyes with one hand and looked around the room. "Thought I saw Mr. Hotpants. Give 'im a piece of my mind." He cupped one hand over his mouth and loudly whispered, "Suki thinks he's cute."

"It's already established that she has bad taste."

Sokka laughed, then frowned as her joke processed. "Hey-!"

But he never finished his sentence. Instead, he folded over like a sack of flour and began to snore. She poked him, hard, just to be sure. When the only reaction she got was a muffled moan followed by more snores, she let out a long breath. Nearby, she heard Zuko do the same.

"Bad taste?"

"Oh, shut up. I had to come up with something."

He ran his fingers through his hair. "Yeah. That was... pretty close."

She snapped to her feet, grabbed Zuko by the hand, and practically dragged him into the nearest classroom. Once there, she scanned the room for any party guests. Satisfied that the coast was clear, instead of shutting the door, she bent a wall of ice over it so thick that it would take a team of firebenders a day to even make a dent in it. It sealed with a crack.

"Close? Close! We shouldn't even have been doing that in the first place!" She carded her fingers through her hair, not even caring as she wrecked her carefully constructed hairstyle. "There's no way he's not going to remember seeing us... seeing us like that!"

"Shh. Katara." He pulled her to him. His hand made warm circles on her back. "He didn't figure it out. He doesn't know. It's fine."

"No. It's not. Fine." she hissed. "I just cheated on the Avatar."

Zuko frowned. "Did you not want to? Because if you feel like I pressured you at all, I-"

"No! It felt- it was really nice. You don't know how long I've wanted to do that." She whimpered, sank to the floor, and buried her face in her hands. "What are we doing?"

He knelt next to her and put his hand on her shoulder. She covered it with her own and looked at him. His eyes were half-lidded. "I don't know."

She made a sound low in her throat. He responded by slipping his arm under her and cradling her back. She laid her own arms around his neck. He smelled like palm wine and salt where sweat had dried onto his skin. She breathed him in, memorizing it.

"It didn't feel wrong," she whispered. "But I know it was. We can't do this."

"No," he murmured into her hair. "It isn't honorable."

She snorted laughter. "No. Look at us." She pushed against him until she could look him in the eye, her hands on his chest. "We're having relationship troubles and the first thing we do is make out with each other? This isn't how it's supposed to be. We couldn't build something on this, even if we wanted to. You can't love without trust."

He caught one of her hands in his and kissed it. "How do you do that?" He pressed her hand to his face. "How can you just instinctively know what's right? Do you have any idea how much I struggle with that, every single day?"

She shook her head, ignoring the happy tingles that trickled down her arm from where she touched him. "I don't. I don't know what's right. I don't know if this is right. I know I can't do it, though. Not to Aang."

He thought for a moment, then said, "I could do it. But I'd hate myself after I did. And I'd end up hating you, after a while."

"I could never hate you." She raised her free hand to the scarred side of his face. "Do you ever wonder-"

"No." He gently eased her hand away from his face. "There's no point in wondering. The past is past, and it can't be changed."

"Not even a little?"

"Sometimes," he admitted. "But I try not to. Uncle says that if you don't enjoy the present, all you'll have is regrets." He paused. "I love Mai."

"I love Aang," she said. She sniffed miserably, thankful that it was too cold in the empty classroom to cry. "I'm glad Sokka showed up when he did."

Zuko didn't answer. Katara slowly eased her arms around his waist. He sighed and leaned into her. The icy floor was cold under her folded legs.

"Let's make a pact," she said, her hand in his hair. Spirits, she loved his hair. "Let's work on our relationships. Really work on them. I'll talk to Aang about our..." she couldn't say it. "Our issues. You corner Mai and make her talk to you. Deal?"

He pressed his lips together. "...what if it doesn't work? What if we fail?"

She shrugged against him. "I don't know. We'll talk, maybe? I don't even know what this is. I don't know if it's the wine or if we're both just really frustrated and kissed because of that."

"This is real," he said. He drew back and took one of her hands in his, pressing it against his chest. "Everything I am, everything I know is telling me that this is real."

She tried very hard not to think about the way his heart felt under her hand, or the way his eyes seemed to burn her. "But how do you know? You can't really know unless you're sober, right?"

He pressed her hand harder. "Uncle says that there's truth in intoxication."

"Gran-Gran says it lowers your inhibitions and makes you stupid." She drew him close and kissed him again, briefly, like she was going out for the day and she'd see him when she got back. "We can't have any regrets. Okay?"

He pressed her forehead to hers. It took him a long time to answer.

"No regrets."

* * *

A year later, Katara and Aang had the second and final fight of their relationship. A week after that, Zuko wrote that things with Mai were much better. He thanked her for her help, and wished her and Aang well.

She was glad she was old enough to appreciate the humor in the situation.


	6. Shadow

Katara did not have a good morning. If waking up screaming was bad, startling the lemur who had decided to comfort you by sleeping in your bed was worse. She was lucky she was a healer. Otherwise, she'd have to explain away the scratches on her face and Momo's torn ear from when she (justifiably!) lashed out in alarm.

When the skin of Momo's ear knit together and the glow of the water subsided, Katara lay back down, her hand across her forehead. Momo chattered at her and then settled down to sleep, all injury apparently forgotten. The sky outside was the pale gray of approaching dawn.

She'd seen Zuko. She'd talked to him. If she needed any more proof that they were on the right track, she'd just gotten it handed to her on a plate of copper. Even if she couldn't touch him, it was him. She could save him.

She rolled onto her side and hugged herself. She'd also gotten proof that someone – or something – was keeping him there. She remembered the feel of the voice. It was pitying, almost. Amused. Lyrical. Female? She frowned. On second thought, it might have been male. Maybe? The harder she tried to recall it, the more it faded, until all she could remember was a flash of blue before she woke up.

She groaned and mashed her face into her pillow. If they ever got out of this mess, she was going to visit Aunt Wu and see if she knew anything about how to remember dreams.

* * *

When Aang, Katara, and Guru Pathik arrived at the edge of the forest, Appa wouldn't go near it. He'd happily carried them down the mountain, but he refused fly anywhere near the close-growing trees. Whenever Aang tried to steer him in that direction, he roared and jerked in the opposite direction. He finally landed on the very outskirts of the forest, but refused to let Aang lead him further. They were forced to disembark.

"He is an exceptionally wise animal," said Guru Pathik, patting Appa's flank.

"Is it really that dangerous in there?" asked Katara.

Momo flew off Aang's shoulder and landed on Appa's head.

"Yes," said Pathik. "The animals are wise enough to let this place be. They do not know where to tread."

Katara imagined the shadows biting at her feet. "But you do, I hope."

His face split into a wide grin. "I do. Now. Follow close. Do not stray from my side."

"Okay. Ready to go, Aang?"

He didn't look at her as he answered. "Sure."

She winced. She'd tried to talk to him at breakfast about her dream, but gone out of his way to avoid her. She supposed it wasn't surprising that he didn't want to talk. Looking back on their late-night conversation, she'd said a few things that maybe went a little too far. He'd participated with his own unfair remarks, but still. She'd never meant to tell him that he'd treated her like an ice sculpture. It was ridiculous to even feel that way. Didn't every girl want to be treated well?

 _Yes, but not like we're breakable_ , said the voice in her head that sounded like Gran-Gran.

She kicked at a rock, and it went tumbling into the trees. No matter what she might think, she couldn't deny that Aang had treated her with love and respect, even when she didn't return it.

Guru Pathik gestured to them. They fell into a tight single-file line and followed him into the forest. The second they crossed the tree line, Katara was amazed at how cold it was. How dark.

"It's like dusk in here," she said. Her voice sounded tight and lifeless, as if she were in a very small room.

"It is said that there are places in this forest where light never touches," said Pathik. "Before the Air Nomads were wiped out, this was a sacred place. People left offerings at the edges of the trees, and would go on pilgrimages to the temple at the heart of the forest. It was good luck to bathe in the water there. Some said it could heal. Now, the air is too thin to invite anything but misfortune."

"I'll make sure it's lucky again," said Aang. He swiped at a hanging vine with his staff.

"I have faith that you will find a way to bring balance back to this place," said Pathik. "But please do not harm the local plant life in the process!"

"Sorry," said Aang, not sounding sorry at all.

Katara bit her tongue. Normally, she would chastise Aang about being rude to his elders, but things between them were too volatile to do that now. _You treat me like a kid_ , he'd said. Had she really? She felt sick with regret. That was never the kind of person she meant to be.

An hour passed in silence. Guru Pathik seemed to pick his way down a specific path that neither she nor Aang could see. Sometimes he would take them around specific areas, going so far as to double back a little to avoid strange-looking rocks or the lightning-blasted trunks of dead trees. Aang asked him why he did this a few times, but the Guru would hold one finger to his lips, smile, and shake his head. The cold, acrid-feeling air that crept around the edges of those places was enough to make her quicken her pace and keep quiet. It reminded her too much of the shadows in the Spirit World.

They finally arrived at a huge, flat rock that stretched across the ground like a round festival cake. The trees that grew around it seemed to lean over and tangle their branches with one another, so that even the barren rock was dim as the rest of the forest. It lay flush against the side of the mountain, into which a temple had been carved.

Katara could see why people once trudged through the thick trees to get to this place. It was beautiful. Its tall door and welcoming, airy windows were a reproduction of the Eastern Air Temple itself. Colorful chips of paint still clung to some of the stonework. Katara could easily imagine the whole thing covered in warm shades of orange. A small spring trickled from the open doorway, where it fed into a wide, leaf-strewn pool. Steps that led directly into it were carved into the rock. Katara couldn't see where they ended.

"Here we are," said Pathik. "The Temple of the Green Pool. Up you come!"

They scrambled onto the rock. From that vantage point, Katara could see plots of land that suggested the presence of old gardens. She imagined that the nuns used to grow shade-loving vegetables to feed themselves and anyone else who happened upon the temple. Now, they were overgrown with weeds.

Pathik stopped at the entrance of the temple. "In here, you will find the barrier between this world and the next at its most penetrable. I will sit here." He indicated a spot just outside the door.

"Wait, aren't you coming with us?" asked Aang.

Pathik shook his head. "I will be of more use to you out here. This is the only entrance to the temple. Anything that might be interested in your bodies while your spirits are traveling will be forced to reckon with this old man." He pointed to his chest and smiled at them. "I will not allow you to come to harm."

Katara put her hands together and bowed. "Thank you, Guru."

He chuckled and waved his hand at her. "No! Thank _you_ , Miss Seventh Chakra! Now, get into the temple. Chop chop!"

Aang sharply nodded, turned on his heel, and marched into the temple. Katara hurried after him.

"Aang!" she hissed, unable to contain herself any longer. "You were very rude to him!"

"Stop mothering me."

"I am _not_ mothering-"

Aang halted so suddenly that she collided with his back.

"Ouch! Are you _trying_ to-"

"Katara." His tone had entirely changed. He pointed into the temple. "Look."

She glared in the direction he was pointing, then stopped, and went still. In the center of the room, there was a huge wooden statue of a macaque in the habit of an Air Nomad. It sat in the lotus position, one hand raised. A pile of blankets sat crumpled at its base in what was unmistakably a place someone had recently slept. A gnarled walking stick lay next to it. The leather thong through its handle was cracked and dry.

"Do you think whoever left this stuff is still around?" whispered Katara. It didn't seem right to speak in any other way.

Aang shook his head. "No. See the dust on the blankets? Whoever used this has been gone for a while now. Not a long while, though."

Silence pooled like the blanket on the floor. He gently picked up the cane and wrapped it in the blanket. It felt like they'd intruded on something sacred, like a graveyard full of ashes and paintings of people long gone. Katara bowed her head and said a quick prayer for the spirit of whoever had been made it here, only to die. She hoped it helped.

"When we get back from the Spirit World," said Aang, "Let's take this with us. It's not right to leave it here like this."

Katara nodded and placed her hand on his arm. He didn't flinch away.

"That's a good idea," she said. "We'll cremate it and take care of the ashes. Whoever they were, they deserve that respect, at least."

"Yeah." Aang sat down in the shadow of the statue, reverently placing the bundle next to him. He held his hand out to Katara. "Thanks for understanding."

She took it. "Of course."

There was something else, something that neither could say, that passed between them when she accepted his hand. Some of the tension eased. The room became a little brighter, maybe. Whatever it was, she was glad for it as she sat down next to him, her hand in his, ready for whatever came next.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

She nodded.

He took a deep, slow breath and closed his eyes.

* * *

It was hot. Katara sighed. She didn't know why she'd expected anything else. Her hands jerked as she unpinned her hair, wound the entire mass into a bun, and re-pinned it.

They stood in a small island in the middle of what she thought of as the swamp. Crumbling ruins stood or half-stood all around them. The sky was yellow as it always was, but the air had a different quality about it than that of her dreams. It was more _normal_ feeling, she guessed. Like she and Aang had decided to take a walk in wacky floating plant world instead of her being forced into it. She felt like she could actually do some damage this time. She liked it.

"Have you ever been here before?" asked. Aang. "This place, I mean. Not the Spirit World in general."

She ran her fingers over a vine. It was slick with condensation. "Not this place. It's new to me."

"This is where I always appear." He waved his staff at the trees, the ancient wooden platforms. "Even when I was in the Spirit Oasis. I wonder if all the Avatars come in the same way."

"So summon one and ask." She cocked her head. "You can do that, right?"

He tapped his arrow. "Comes with the job. That's a good idea, though. We'll need a guide. Hold on; this should only take a second." He bowed his head and closed his eyes. Nothing happened. After a few seconds of this, he let out a hiss of air and his eyes snapped open. "It's not working!"

Katara frowned. "That's weird. Want to try again?"

"Sure." He furrowed his eyebrows, clenched and unclenched his fists, took a deep, calming breath and squeezed his eyes shut. A full minute passed this time before he gave up. He shook his head. "It's like I'm being blocked."

Katara thought of whoever was holding Zuko captive. "Is there a spirit that can influence that kind of thing?"

"It'd take a lot of power. But it's possible."

She took a deep breath. She really did not want to violate their cease-fire, but she didn't have a choice. "Last night," she began, "I talked to Zuko."

"Oh?" he said, in an I'm-not-going-to-make-a-big-deal-out-of-this tone.

She ignored him. It didn't take long to describe what she remembered. As she told her story, Aang's face became more and more troubled.

"It sure sounds like there's a powerful Spirit involved, but that doesn't make sense. A Spirit powerful enough to keep me from summoning another Avatar shouldn't have any trouble keeping Sifu Hotman from getting into your dreams at night."

Katara frowned. "But if it's that powerful, why wouldn't it just keep us from entering the Spirit World altogether?"

Aang shook his head. "Keeping the Avatar from entering the Spirit World would take the power of something like the Moon or Ocean Spirits. I don't think they'd bother with something like this."

"So there's a powerful spirit with inconsistent power issues and you can't summon anything to guide us."

"That about sums it up," said Aang with a shrug.

Katara fought the urge to stomp her feet and throw a fit. It was supposed to be easy once they got to the Spirit World proper. Aang was supposed to summon Roku, he was supposed to lead them to Zuko, and they were supposed to kick the ass of whatever had him, go back to the real world, be friends again, and live happily ever after.

"Great. This is great," grumbled Katara. "Why can't anything ever be easy for us?"

"Toph calls it 'Aang's Law,'" Aang helpfully supplied. "Everything that can go wrong, will, and if there's a rescue, it'll always come at the last minute."

"At least it's got an exit clause." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Okay. Okay. Every time I've been to this stupid place there've been Spirit World things everywhere. One of them has to know something. So we are going to find one and we are going to _make it_ be helpful. Come on."

"Lead the way."

She picked a direction that felt good and went with it.

* * *

Overall, it was a lot like her previous Spirit World experiences; trudging through the undergrowth, wading through otherwise impassable expanses of water, trying not to get tangled in vines. She even had that strange, niggling feeling that something was watching her. In fact, she was sure something was watching her. Shifting shapes swooped about the edge of her vision. After she'd paused and stared into the trees enough times, Aang finally asked her what she was looking for.

"Don't you see them?"

Aang squinted. "I don't know. Sometimes I think I see something, but it's gone before I can focus. Is that what's bothering you?"

"You mean it doesn't bother you?"

He shrugged. "It's a part of what makes the Spirit World the Spirit World. The second you feel alone, worry."

Katara knocked a swathe of close-growing vines out of the way with more force than she meant. The whole thing snapped in half and fell into the swamp with a splash. This left Katara with an unfortunately clear view of a humanoid creature with unnaturally long arms and legs. It scuttled out of sight. A half-eaten corpse of a three-legged bird sprawled behind it. She shuddered.

"Ugh. I am seriously sick of this place."

"Ommmmmmmmmm."

The most forceful meditation hum that Katara had ever heard echoed through the clearing. A suspiciously familiar-looking macaque sat on a raised rock. He wore a necklace of shells, a dark orange civara, and an extremely sour expression.

Oh well. Whatever he was upset about, she didn't care in the slightest.

"Finally!" she sighed.

"Uh, Katara..."

"Not now, Aang." She brushed his hand off her arm and trudged toward the meditating monkey as respectfully as she could, only tripping twice. When she reached him, she bowed. "Excuse me, sir?"

"Ommmmmmmmmm," he replied, his eyes firmly closed.

"Excuse me," she repeated, this time a bit more forcefully.

He opened one beady eye to squint at her. "What?"

"I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for us?"

"No. Go away."

Her mouth fell open. "Excuse me!"

He ignored her, once again falling into a much louder hum. She rolled up her sleeves, prepared to really lay into him, when Aang laid his hand on her shoulder.

"Honorable Enma," he said with a flourishing bow. "The Avatar and his companion greet you and wish you peace. We're sorry for interrupting your meditations, but we're looking for someone. Roku's grandson."

The irritating ommm-ing slipped key for split second, like a false note in an erhu concert. Katara pounced.

"You've seen him," she said. It wasn't a question.

"Grandson of Roku doesn't walk. Haven't seen him. Go away."

Aang raised his eyebrows at her. She pressed on. "Not until you answer our question."

"Didn't see anything," said Enma. "Didn't hear anything. So won't say anything. Go away. OMMMMMMMMMMM."

"Come on, Katara," said Aang. "He's not going to help us more than that. I'm actually pretty surprised you got him to say that much."

She pushed one sleeve up her arm. "Oh no. Absolutely not. We are not leaving until we get some answers."

Aang grabbed her by the arm, stopping her. He dragged her away until they were at a safe distance. She glared up at him.

"Katara, don't," he whispered. "It's not a good idea to make Spirits angry at you. They carry grudges."

"Who said anything about making him angry?" she yanked her arm free. "I'm a little sister, Aang. I know all kinds of ways to get what I want."

She tossed her loopies, marched over to the rock, and scrambled onto it. Enma opened one eye to stare at her as she settled as close to him as she could without actually touching him. He smelled like a wet, musty Appa. She hoped that contact odors didn't carry from the Spirit World. Otherwise, her bath later would be absolutely epic.

"Are we bothering you?" she asked in her sweetest voice.

Ah. There it was. The familiar look of dread and annoyance that she'd caused so many times on Sokka's face when they were kids. This would be easy. She kicked her legs. Nearby, she could hear a slapping noise as Aang's palm met his forehead.

"I- ah- yes. I am trying to reach enlightenment."

"Can I try?"

The monkey blinked. "What?"

"Come on, let me try."

"No. I require peace in this task. If you are here, humming to yourself, I will not be able to concentrate. Go away."

"But that's not fair!" she stuck out her lower lip. "Why can't I try? Aang, he won't let me try!"

Aang stuck his fingers in his ears and turned around. "I'm not listening to this. La-la-la-la..."

"I do not understand why you insist on bothering me." Enma massaged his temples while he spoke. "Can you not see that I am a very busy Spirit? I tell you, I do not know where Roku's grandson is. Now go away and leave me in peace, ridiculous girl!"

She smiled at him with such benevolence that snow wouldn't have melted on her cheeks. He glared at her. She didn't flinch. Finally, he let out a snort of air, closed his eyes and relaxed into his meditation stance. It took her approximately three seconds to kick him over, yank him up, and get him in a headlock so tight that even Sokka would have begged her for mercy.

"Listen, you rude little monkey," she hissed into his ear. "I have had it up to _here_ with cryptic spirits saying cryptic things and expecting me to figure all this nonsense out on my own. You will tell me what you know and you will tell me now or I swear on the soul of my mother that I will sit here and I will annoy you for the rest of eternity!"

His eyes widened. "You wouldn't!"

"Oh yes I would. Do you see my eyes? Do they look like lying ones to you?" She craned her neck around and pointed to her eyes, and then to him.

He squeaked, "Mortal! Mortal trapped him. Not Spirit, but aided by Spirit. Old Spirit."

"Do you swear that's all?"

"That is all I can say! I swear it!"

She slowly eased her hold on his neck. With a grunt, he rolled over, massaging his throat and glaring daggers at her. There was something else in his eyes, though, that stood behind the anger and lifted its pale face to her. Was it fear?

"You have built your own funeral pyre," he spat, baring his teeth at her. "I am not responsible for your fate."

She stood her ground. "No, you're not. I am."

She turned on her heel and walked up to Aang, who was still staring politely in the opposite direction with his ears covered. She tapped him on the shoulder. "I'm done. He doesn't know where Zuko is, but he knows that a human and a spirit are working together to keep him here."

He sighed and shook his head. "I don't want to know what you did to get that information," he said in a low voice. He turned to the irate monkey and bowed. "Please, Honorable Enma. Accept my apologies on behalf of my friend. She's been under a lot of stress lately and doesn't understand the focus one needs to obtain enlightenment through meditation."

"I understand my fist in his face," Katara said under her breath.

"Go away!" Enma shouted, shaking his fist. He spat at their feet. Then, he seemed to look at something Katara couldn't see, and fled.

Aang frowned. "I've never seen him leave that rock. What did you do?"

"Nothing I wouldn't have done to Sokka," she said.

Aang narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously, but didn't press. That was fine with her. She wasn't in the mood to be lectured about proper methods of extracting information from recalcitrant spirits.

"So there's two captors," said Aang, rubbing his chin. "That means twice as much trouble for us."

"Why two of them? Isn't one enough?"

"I'm telling you. Aang's Law."

She rolled her eyes. "That's strange, though. I didn't think humans could normally enter here. How did someone get into this world and trap Zuko here if the Avatar can't even do it most days? No offense."

"None taken," said Aang with a wave of his hand. "I guess if the person had a Spirit as an ally he'd have less of a problem getting here..."

"That makes sense. But how would he get the ally in the first place?"

"Yeah, that's the question, isn't it? Spirits don't normally take interest in our affairs unless we really screw up and they feel like teaching us a lesson. Sifu Hotman's whole life before he joined us was already a big fruit-pie in the face from the Spirits," he said, shaking his head and grinning. "There isn't a reason for them to go this far."

"Maybe it's not him they're teaching a lesson to," said Katara. She could taste palm wine on her tongue.

Before Aang could ask her what she meant, a small sobbing noise interrupted them. In unison, they turned towards it. A very small girl stood in the middle of a nearby pool of water, her face in her hands. She was incorporeal from the waist down. Tangled ribbons lay in her silvery hair.

Katara tiptoed over to the little girl and sank to her knees. "Hey. Hi there. Why are you crying, sweetie?"

The girl shook her head, and continued sobbing.

"It's okay." Katara crouched and held out her hand to her. "Come here. Tell me what's wrong. Maybe we can help you. Do you see him?" She pointed to Aang. "He's the Avatar. It's his job to help people."

The girl sniffed and peeked at Katara through her hands. Her eyes were entirely black. Katara had to stop herself from recoiling.

"I can't find the way," she said.

"The way where?" said Aang.

"The way," she repeated. "Can you help me find it?"

"Where are you from?" Katara asked, already knowing the answer.

"The village at the base of the mountain. Mama said she'd be right back. I got lost. Can you help me find the way?"

Katara held her stomach. She was going to vomit. More than the old blanket and the walking stick, more than Guru Pathik's sad eyes, this truly drove the evil that had been done in that forest home. How could a mother abandon her child to die? She thought of the sacrifice her mother had made for her. Thought of the lengths she would go to in order to protect someone she loved. How could a mother not do the same?

Aang's entire body was rigid. His knuckles were white around his staff. "I'll help you. I promise. I'll help you find the way. Tell everyone that I'll help them find the way."

The girl vanished. Silence welled around them. No birds cried. No wind blew. It was the silence of a bomb about to explode.

She and Aang stared at each other. His eyes went wide.

"Run," he said.

It was like her dreams; the sense of being alone, and then very fast and with no warning, decidedly not alone. There was a roaring crash of splintered wood and something huge and fast thundered its way into their clearing, shoving ruins and trees into the earth as if they were made of paper. It was the size of a saber-toothed moose-lion, but shaped like a wolf with a long, spindly neck, and it seemed to be entirely made of wood. Its joints were lashed together with rope. It howled and ran for them, stone teeth dripping sap.

Aang yanked Katara away from its jaws and forced her to run. They chose a path that brought them through many close-growing trees. The wolf-tree beast snarled and snapped at them every time it had to plow through a big enough obstacle.

"Can't you get us out of here!" shouted Katara.

"Unless someone pulls us out, we can only get out the way we came!" Aang yelled back, ducking under a stone overhang. "We'll be there soon! Just keep running!"

Katara wished for her bending. If she could bend, she'd shear that thing's head off with a rain of ice daggers. Hell, its neck looked weak enough for a good twist of a water whip. She let go of Aang's hand to leap over a wide expanse of water and landed in the shallows. She stumbled. This slowed her up just enough for the fallen tree-wolf-thing to nearly bite off her leg. She kicked it in the face in retaliation. She heard the splintering of wood, but she didn't stick around long enough to see its reaction.

"Nearly there..." panted Aang.

A howl like a door blown open in a blizzard tore through the sky.

"Good," she shouted. "Because I might have made it a little mad."

He twisted his head around to look incredulously at her. "What did you-"

"No time keep running!"

Their entrance was now in sight. It glowed white and hung there like a cloud. She knew if she could just keep running, she'd make it, and wake up on the stone floor of a creepy abandoned temple, hand in hand with Aang.

She saw Aang hit the ground before the sound even reached her ears. He was probably so used to airbending his way through life he didn't think to plan his steps ahead and avoid holes in the ground. She skidded to a halt just as Aang held up his staff, right in time for the tree-wolf to collide with it.

"Aang!"

She tried to pull water to her, then mentally cursed the Spirit World for its ridiculous bending rules. This was like Foggy Swamp. She could feel the water around her, but she couldn't touch it. By all rights, she should be able to bend the plants. She dug in her pockets for the bone that the traveler had given her, the one that had proven so useful in her dream the previous night, but it was nowhere to be found. What was going on? She swore and patted herself down. Surely it had to be somewhere. She hadn't lost it, had she?

"Hurry!" Aang shouted. His staff was bending under the weight of the wolf. Sap dripped onto his face like drool.

No time. A thick, snake-like vine hung over her head. She yanked the vine off its tree. It fell into her open hands. She quickly looped one end around her wrist and held the other end taut.

 _Please, please let this work_ , she thought.

She fell into the first form of waterbending she'd ever learned. One, draw the water from the ground. Two, pull the water into a long, whip-like shape. Three, let the flow of your chi direct the flow of the water, raise your arm, and snap the whip. The vine went flying, and wrapped itself around the wolf's neck like a rope. Yes! She yanked it as hard as she could. There was a moment of resistance, and then its neck snapped in half like a brittle tree branch.

She didn't waste time watching it fall apart. She yanked Aang to his feet, hauled him to the exit, and dove through.

* * *

_Winter, ASC 104, Year of the Rat_

It was a beautiful winter night in the South Pole. The dark sky was bright with stars. A thick knot of dark clouds was rolling in from the sea, promising a winter storm, but that would be later. Nothing was going to spoil Katara's good mood. She'd just finished her last class for the year. It was the winter break, now, a time for her students to rejoin their families and help them prepare for the days-long blizzards that would keep them chained underground for months. Winter was a good time at the South Pole, despite the murderous weather. Katara had a lot of good memories of being with her entire tribe in the longhouse, exchanging stories, telling jokes and singing while everyone relaxed and ate the food they'd worked so hard to gather during the warm months. This year, they'd be using the new longhouse, a fantastically designed underground bunker with touches of detail from the Northern Tribe and a room for every family in the South Pole and then some. Sokka and Teo had designed it with expansion in mind, making sure to leave plenty of room for it to spread out under the city. Sokka told her he hoped one day the surface of the South Pole would be exactly like the tops of spider-ant mounds; just a pretty facade for the enormity of what lay below it.

Katara pushed the bright blue door of her room open and deposited an armful of scrolls in the bowl next to it. She was surprised and pleased to find Aang resting on one of the great poufs she kept for company. He leaned back into it, eyes closed, the top of his staff partially concealed in the folds of his collar. She thought he must have fallen asleep waiting for her. Smiling, she laid one hand on his shoulder and kissed him on the top of his head.

"Hey," she said.

His eyes fluttered open. He smiled slightly and briefly covered her hand with his. "Hey. You're back."

"Yep. Classes were great today. It was the last day so everyone was either really excited or really sad to leave. Sedna made me an ice flower; isn't that nice? I stuck it on the wall with the others. I'm thinking when school starts again I'll have all the younger students come up with a theme and make things out of ice to brighten the classroom." She settled down next to him. "What's up? I thought you were busy with the mess in East Village."

"That's done. The captain of that Earth Kingdom boat finally apologized. He didn't like it much, but he didn't like the prospect of facing down a whole village of angry waterbenders on ice either."

"Next time he'll know better than to pull a mask off the wall of someone's igloo and ask how much money he wants for it."

"The spitshine he gave it _was_ pretty uncalled for."

She smiled. "You hungry? I can make you something."

"Not really." He rubbed the back of his head and looked a blank section of all.

"Something on your mind?"

He shrugged. "I don't know how to say this."

"Say what? It's me, Aang. You can tell me anything, you know that."

"I'm, uh, leaving the South Pole."

Katara bit back a sigh. It wasn't as if she hadn't expected this. Aang didn't usually spend his winters in the South Pole, since he couldn't subsist on a diet of seal jerky and food preserved in animal fat. She just didn't expect it so soon. He usually stuck around for the Winter Ceremonial, at least.

"You're leaving pretty early this time. Sokka and Suki haven't even left yet."

"Yeah, well," he said, but didn't elaborate further.

He was acting very strange, nervously passing his staff from one hand to the other. There was probably something he wanted to say, but was afraid to. She didn't want to press him. It was hard to tell what would send him running these days, and she didn't want to spend another night worrying about his safety, especially when a storm was rolling in.

"Well," she said, standing up and stretching. "I'll go pack."

"I, uh."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay, seriously. What is it? You're acting like I'm going to freeze you to the ceiling."

He swallowed. "I don't need you to come with me this time. I'm going alone."

There was a beat of silence. She stared down at him. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Is this because of that fight we had a few years ago?" she asked, frowning. "I told you, I wanted to stay for the winter that year to be with my dad. I don't want to spend _every_ winter here. You've got to stop giving yourself a hard time about it."

"It's not that... I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. About us." He stood, still not looking at her, staff loosely gripped in one hand. "Things have been weird for a long time. It's been a year since we've done anything..." he trailed off, letting the implication hang. "And you always push me away when I try. I'm tired of feeling rejected all the time."

"What? I... that... I told you. I wasn't ready. I'm still not ready." She folded her arms across her chest. "You need to respect that."

"That's the thing! I don't think you ever will be. You don't see me as..." He groaned and brought his hand to his forehead. "There are other things. A lot of other things. Mostly my things. Not your fault things. I wish I could make you understand."

"So explain them to me. Help me understand why you're unhappy. We can work on this together."

"I can't do this. I can't." He raised one hand to his eyes and covered them. He spoke just above a whisper. "This isn't working out."

She felt her mouth fall open. "Are... are you breaking up with me?"

He finally looked at her. The room tilted. She had to place her hand on the wall for support. In all the permutations of the future that she'd traversed in her imagination, even in the somewhat shameful ones where she was no longer bound to him, she'd never once considered that Aang would leave her one day. It simply didn't make sense. Not after the way he'd pursued her during the war, the way he kissed her when she wasn't paying attention, the obvious devotion he had for her from the day he opened his eyes and stepped out of the iceberg. He took her everywhere with him. They were the Avatar and the Hope of the South. They were destiny. They had to be. She'd worked hard for this. For him.

"I'm sorry, Katara," he said. He put both hands on her upper arms, pulled her close, and kissed the crown of her head. "I'm sorry. I didn't want it to be this way."

"I don't understand," she said, and she truly didn't.

"I've got to go."

Five seconds passed before she realized that he meant that literally. He was at to the door when she grabbed him by the arm. She could hear snow hitting the door on the other side. The blizzard that had been threatening to bury their village all day had finally broken. It screamed into her heart.

"No. No. You can't do this. You can't just dump me and leave me without telling me why. Come back in here and sit down and _explain this to me_."

He took one last, anguished look at her, pulled the door open, and stepped out into the storm. The last thing she saw was his back disappearing into the snow. She ran after him.

"Aang! Don't you dare run away from me! Get back here and face this! Come back! Aang! AANG!"

The wind ate her words.

* * *

They woke from their Spirit World journey with aching limbs and only a little bit of information to show for it. Seven hours had passed, though for them, it had only been thirty minutes. Aang had taken it in his stride, but Katara was astonished that they had done so little. She wanted to go back and keep searching, but the shadows on the temple floor were already lengthening, and Guru Pathik refused to remain in the forest after dark. She only gave in when Aang promised her that they'd reattempt first thing in the morning. He took up the abandoned blankets and staff, and they began their long walk back to the top of the mountain.

It was a good thing they left when they did. An hour after they arrived from the Spirit World, a long gash had split Aang's face from ear to jawline. It seemed to have come from nowhere. He hadn't noticed it himself until he felt something wet and sticky on his neck and drawn back his bright red hand. They got to Appa as quickly as they could, but Aang still lost more blood than Katara was comfortable with.

The way Pathik explained it, injuries sustained in the Spirit World did not always manifest in the physical one right away. After all, the body itself wasn't harmed, but the spirit. And the spirit remembered. Katara did what she could, but she couldn't stop the gash from reappearing minutes after she coaxed the skin back together. Pathik left for the village once Aang was safely delivered to the Eastern Air Temple. There were herbs there that he thought would help. Injuries of the spirit, he said, often ran deeper than those of the body.

He also warned her about the wolf. Those kinds of golems, he said, were often extensions of some other great power. If the creatures of the Spirit World had already begun to attack them, it meant that whatever it was that chased Katara out of her dreams at night was aware of their presence, and did not want them there.

She held her hands up to the lamplight and looked at them. Clever hands. Good enough to waterbend. Good enough to improvise a weapon. Not good enough to bring Zuko back from the Spirit World, or heal Aang. She made two fists, then relaxed. What good was being a master waterbender if she couldn't even use her gift to save the people she loved?

She lowered her hands, ran her fingers through her hair. Ridiculous. She was being ridiculous. Sokka would laugh at her if he found her like this, dramatically contemplating the value of her waterbending. She'd whip him in the back of the head for being a jerk, but he'd be right. There was always something her hands could do, even if they failed her from time to time.

She grabbed the bandage she'd washed for Aang, bent the water out of them, and knocked on the door to his room. "Aang? I've got the bandages. I'm coming in."

"Come in," he called.

She opened the door and softly closed it behind her. Aang was sitting up on his cot, his staff propped against the wall, reading a scroll with a lot of complex-looking characters on it. A bag full of them sat on the floor next to him.

"What're you reading?"

"Stuff from Guru Pathik's library. He's got a bunch of scrolls that he says he rescued from the temple after the firebenders left. You remember how we were talking about this a few days ago?" he said, grinning. "I didn't think there was anything left like this in the world."

Katara smiled. "That's really great, Aang. Anything good in there?"

"This one's good. It's a treatise on the value of non-violent retaliation to violent resistance during times of political upheaval. The Air Nomads had libraries full of ideas like this, but they never distributed it anywhere but the temples." He rolled it up and stuck it in his bag. "I wonder sometimes, maybe if Sozin could have read it, the war might not have happened."

Blood splashed onto the neck of his shirt, staining the yellow fabric a dark orange. He was very pale, from excitement or blood loss. She hoped for the former.

"The war still would have happened. Sozin was a bloodthirsty maniac even after growing up with Roku," she said, settling on the edge of his cot and bending the blood out of his collar.

"He wasn't that simple. Things are never that simple. People have many nuanced motivations that make them do the things they do. That's the core of the Air Nomads' teachings: to always come at a problem from every angle, rather than attacking it in blind hatred."

Katara tilted his chin. The cut was still refusing to join at its lip. She gently sopped away the excess blood with a clean washcloth. "He was a simple enough man to commit genocide instead of spending years and money sending people to search for the Avatar. That was after twelve years of thinking about it. Do you really think he would've done anything different if he'd read this scroll when he was a kid?"

"You never know what'll change people."

She carefully wrapped the bandage over his ear, binding it to its other end on the underside of his chin. If she couldn't outright stop the blood, she could at least staunch it.

"Is that too tight?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No. It feels fine."

She made the final knot. "It's not that I don't agree with non-violence. And I think it's a really good idea to make copies of those scrolls so you can get them into libraries and schools and things. But you're not going to be able to keep potential tyrants from being tyrants. Some things are in people's natures and can't be changed."

"Zuko changed. He turned his back his whole nation to teach me to firebend. And he grew up being told that the Fire Nation was fighting a just war. You can't tell me that's not changing your nature."

She closed her eyes, breathed, slowly opened them again. "Zuko's not a simple man. He never was. It took a lot for him to change as much as he did."

Aang raised his eyebrows at her. "You sure didn't see that at first. He told me all about how you threatened to end him if he stepped out of line."

"And I was completely justified at the time! He'd already had one relapse." She smirked and held up one finger. "I still make him apologize for that sometimes."

"Yeah." Aang rubbed the back of his head. He usually did that when he was uncomfortable about something, or when he was trying to work out a problem. This time, she thought that it was probably both. "You like him, don't you? I mean, _like_ -like him."

She looked away and began to fiddle with her necklace. "He's my friend..."

"Stop protecting me, Katara," he said, softly. "I can handle this."

She made herself look at him. A little blood was already staining the bandage she'd tied around his neck. He sat with one knee up, his hands folded across it, shoulders relaxed. His body, stretched out, would fill the length of the cot. He wasn't the skinny little boy who had tried to show off to her on the elephant koi anymore. She wondered if this was how her father had felt when she'd come back to the South Pole, a head taller and a war older.

"I... I don't know. I think I do. It's hard to tell." She felt her pulse rise. "I don't feel about him the way I felt about you, or even Jet... definitely not Jet." She cringed, remembering. "I was so stupid about Jet. I was so stupid about _you_." She didn't even know what she was saying now. It was like a gate had been lowered, and the things she'd kept stagnant in the canals of her body were flowing out to sea. "I'm so sorry, Aang. I really thought I wanted to be with you. It didn't make any sense for me not to want to be with you. I thought there was something wrong with me, and if I just tried, I could get better or something. But that wasn't fair to you, was it?"

"I don't know about fair..." He rubbed the back of his head again. "It did feel like you were indulging me sometimes, but I didn't think you were capable of that kind of condescension. So things were really confusing for a while. I wish I'd let myself see it."

Hot shame flooded her stomach. "I couldn't hurt you."

"I didn't want to hurt you, either."

Her hands tightened in her lap. "But if you didn't want to hurt me, why'd you dump me in the first place?"

"Well... I thought it would hurt less than you finding out I'd been having all these thoughts. I didn't know how to explain them to you without hurting you even more."

"So... that's why you left me? Because you thought it wouldn't hurt me as much?"

He shrugged, at least having the decency to look ashamed. "More or less."

"That's... really dumb."

"I know, I know. When I told Toph she punched me in the head and yelled at me for like an hour about it."

She laughed, then sighed. Her hands on her lap seemed fused together. She watched for a moment as Aang picked at the blanket on his bed. The one he'd found in the temple was sitting in the corner, next to the bag of scrolls. The walking stick sat nested in its folds.

"It really hurt that you left like that," she said, quietly. "It felt like I was being abandoned."

He cringed. "I'm sorry. I messed up. I didn't know how to tell you what I was feeling, so I ran. I ran from the look on your face and I ran from the possibility that you were anything less than perfect."

He slipped his arms around her waist and she pulled him to her, holding him so tight that she could barely take a breath. The bandage on his face scratched against her cheek. This was different from all the times he'd tried to touch her since she arrived. There was no want in it, no possessiveness or intention. There was only the need to press heartbeat to heartbeat, to let that rhythm ease away all the ugliness and hurt that had kept them apart for over a year.

"I missed you," he said into her ear. "I missed you so much that I confused it with wanting to be your boyfriend again. How stupid is that?"

"It's not stupid. I missed you too. I miss what we had. You were the kindest, most caring boyfriend anyone could ever ask for. You were fun and affectionate and didn't care if we held hands in public. I was really happy for a while. But then you spent more and more time away and every time you came back I was a different person, but you never noticed. I was so frustrated, all the time. I thought I was going to die feeling like that. You were the one who finally did the right thing and dumped me. I should have respected you enough to do it myself."

He disentangled himself from her. His face was red and splotchy. She didn't want to imagine how hers looked.

"How long did you feel that way?"

"A long time. Too long." She bit her lip and shook her head. "I'm so, so sorry."

"It's okay," he said. He took both her hands in his and squeezed them. "We both messed up. Like, a lot."

She laughed. "Yeah, we did. Self-sacrifice? Not a good idea."

"Ugh. Remind me never to do that again. Please."

"I will if you'll remind me."

He smiled at her. "Can we be friends again now?"

She smiled back. "Yes."

* * *

They talked for a long time after that. They talked about anything that came to mind; Appa's quest for a girlfriend, how much Katara missed her brother sometimes, all the little things the kids at her school had done that had annoyed her all year. She wanted to tell him about how she kissed Zuko at the Dedication Ceremony, but decided their peace at the moment wasn't worth more than the strife it would cause. They kept talking, alternately apologizing, laughing, and telling the truth until the noise of their stomachs began to drown out the conversation.

"Onion-banana juice really isn't cutting it," said Katara, slipping off the cot and stretching. "I'm going to go make something to eat. Want anything?"

"Uuuuuugh, yes. I'm _starving_. Whatever it is, make me two."

"How do riceballs sound? I've still got all those picked plums and stuff we picked up on the way here. I could have a bunch ready in a half hour."

"Awesome." He flopped back onto his cot and folded his hands behind his head. The bandage on his chin nearly came loose.

"Careful," she said. "Don't tear the scab. See you in a half hour."

He waved to her. "See you."

She shut the door behind her and walked a few paces before she stopped and placed her hand on the wall. She was more exhausted than she could remember being in a very long time. Exhausted and relieved. How long had she been shoving her feelings into a corner like that? Years? How much of that time was wasted in pointless self-sacrifice? She couldn't remember. She ran her hands through her hair and smoothed down her clothes.

Since they'd had to land very quickly, they hadn't done it with regard to where they'd slept the previous night. The food and the rest of her things were in the building opposite Aang's. Appa was waiting for her when she got to the courtyard.

"Hey boy," she said, stopping to pat him on the nose. "You look tense. Waiting for news about Aang?"

Appa slowly blinked his great eyes and snorted. Approximately three seconds later, a very fast, furry, enormous _thing_ wearing a saddle full of people vaulted out of the ground like a mole on cactus juice.

"AAAAAGHAAAAAFHFHHHHHFFFFFAAA!" said Katara.

"WOOOOOOOO!" said the short, slender person straddling the badgermole's neck. It landed with a crash that sent a plume of dust into the sky.

The dust cleared, and Katara saw Toph, her hands raised to the thin moon. "Sugarcakes! Did you miss me!"

"Toph!" cried Katara. "You're back!"

Toph thumbed her chest. "Said I'd be, didn't I? I even brought friends!"

A broad-shouldered water tribe man scrambled off the badgermole and fumbled his landing, falling ungracefully on his rear end. Katara felt her heart jump.

"Sokka!" she cried. She ran towards him. "Sokka!"

She crashed into him, throwing him backwards a few inches. "I can't believe you're here! I thought you were going to be in Kyoshi all season!"

"And I thought we agreed that if you ever needed my help, you'd write to me," he held her at arm's length and smiled broadly at her. "Come on. It shouldn't take my genius to figure out that you might need non-benders in the Spirit World. You mind telling me why we weren't invited?"

"Katara!" Suki engulfed her in a tight hug. She wasn't in full Kyoshi garb, having abandoned the bulky outfit for something resembling Toph's comfortable traveling clothes, but the fans at her hips flashed in the moonlight. "It's so good to see you!"

"Wow!" Katara breathed. "I can't believe you guys are here! Aang's going to be so excited!"

Sokka glared and drew space sword. After the war, he'd gone on what he called a 'Spirit Quest' with Suki and Toph. When he came back, Suki had a thirty seven point Granite Cross awarded from King Bumi (the highest military honor in Omashu), Toph had sworn off gambling for the next year, and Sokka had space sword and boomerang back. These days, in the absence of actual fighting, he liked to draw the sword to make points.

"So," he said. "Are you two still dating or what?"

"Sokka!" Suki smacked him on the back of the head. "That's none of your business!"

"What! What! I have a right to know these things before I go introduce him to the pointy end of space sword!"

He waved it in emphasis. Everyone took a step backwards.

Katara held up her hands. "Whoa, Sokka, calm down. It's okay. We made up. Chill. Down boy."

"Ha!" said Toph. She made a pillar of earth and rode it down to their level. "I knew if I left you alone you'd work things out. When I see Twinkles I'm gonna rub this in so hard."

Sokka looked horrified and mumbled something that sounded like, "Bad mental image."

"So," said Suki, steepling her fingers innocently. "Does this mean you're dating again?"

Katara smacked her forehead. "No. No we aren't."

A monotone voice sounded from atop the (extremely patient) badgermole. "Uuugh... I'm going to vomit if I don't get off this horrible animal right now. Would someone please give me a hand?"

"Mai, you should really be careful what you say! You could hurt Bruiser's feelings." Ty Lee peeked over the edge of the saddle. "Oh! Hi, Katara! Wow, you look so pretty! You should always wear your hair that way!"

She leapt to the earth with all the grace of a feather in the wind, then let Mai use her as a balance while she climbed down. How Ty Lee managed to find a midriff-bearing outfit in Kyoshi in the depths of winter, Katara had no idea.

"Ty Lee?" said Katara, dumbly. " _Mai_?"

"In the flesh," said Mai.

Ty Lee, not to be left out of anything, hugged Katara as well. "When Suki said that she needed one of the warriors to go with her on a dangerous mission to the Spirit World, I volunteered right away! I've never been to the Spirit World before! Plus Zuko's like one of my oldest friends, so I had to do _something_ to help."

"Not to mention mine," said Mai. "Is there any particular reason you didn't bother to mention this rescue mission the last time we talked?"

Sokka and Suki exchanged glances. _Significant_ glances.

"I..." Katara felt the color rise in her cheeks. She stuck her chin out. "Is there any reason you're not with the Earth King right now?"

Mai adjusted her sleeve. "Kuei agreed to my terms a day after I arrived. He was a very gracious host. I've been with Ty Lee on Kyoshi since then. You still didn't answer my question."

"Mai, you're not being very nice," said Ty Lee. "I'm sure Katara just forgot."

Technically, this was true. She had been so wrapped up in hiding the fact that she'd been holding hands with Mai's comatose boyfriend before Mai walked in the room that she had completely forgotten to say anything about her plans to hunt down his spirit. And she sure as hell wasn't going to explain that to her. Especially when she was armed.

She took a deep breath. "Ty Lee's right. I did forget. Sorry. You also left first thing in the morning, so it wasn't like I could tell you then. Okay?"

Mai rolled her eyes. "You are way too uptight. I was teasing you."

"You were... what?"

"Never mind," she sighed.

Appa lumbered up to Bruiser and sniffed. The badgermole's hackles stood up for a moment, then slowly lowered as Appa took the initiative and nuzzled it. A low, chuffing sound came from it's throat.

"Aw!" said Ty Lee. "Look! They're friends!"

Sokka draped his arms over Katara's shoulders. "That's so nice. This is _so_ nice. This is so _amazingly nice_ that we should celebrate over dinner. And it just so happens that I am a fantastic cook."

Suki shook her head and mouthed ' _No._ '

"That's really... exciting!" said Katara. "But Aang's already expecting riceballs for dinner. Why don't you help me make that tonight and tomorrow you can make dinner."

"Well... I guess I am a little tired from traveling all day. Tell you what. I'll help you make the riceballs, and tomorrow night I can make dinner. How's that?"

Katara patted him on the arm. "Great idea, Sokka."

"Yeah," said Suki. "I don't know where you get them."

Katara stifled a laugh. "Okay. If you guys get the fire ready, I'll go get Aang. He's going to be so happy to see you."

She turned back towards Aang's room, leaving a bustle of happy voices behind her. Well, mostly happy, if you didn't count Mai's bored monotone. Aang was going to be thrilled. She took the stairs two at a time. She couldn't wait to see the look on his face when she told him that Toph had come back and brought the whole family with her. There was a small pang in her chest, and she remembered Zuko handing out poorly-brewed tea to them at the Western Air Temple. Well, most of the family.

"...hey. What're you so upset for? It's just me."

"I thought I'd never see you again. I thought you weren't ever coming back. I'm so, so sorry. I'm a complete idiot."

Katara slowed down and stopped in the open doorway of Aang's room. There kneeling on the floor, was Aang, his arms wrapped around Toph's waist, his face buried in her lap. Toph was sitting on the cot and looking bewildered. Katara opened her mouth to apologize for intruding, but closed it when Toph shook her head a fraction of an inch.

"What, you think you can banish me and I'll just take it? Pft. You're crazy. Toph Bei Fong doesn't take orders from anyone. Especially not whiny little airbenders who are only doing it for the attention."

"I'm sorry," he said, his face pressed into her stomach. "I'm sorry."

Katara slowly backed to the top of the stairs, turned, and padded away as quietly as she could.

"So, you still confused?" asked Toph, her voice fading as Katara increased the distance between them.

"No," said Aang. "Not anymore."

* * *

When Katara came back without Aang, she explained that Toph had gotten there first.

"Ah!" said Suki. "Right! I saw her slipping off a while ago. Sorry I didn't tell you."

Ty Lee covered her mouth with her fingertips. Katara could see her smiling behind them. "Oh! I hope you didn't interrupt anything."

A mental image of what Ty Lee meant by 'interrupt' flashed horribly through Katara's mind. "No! No. They were just talking. Toph couldn't wait for her apology."

For some reason, Mai snickered.

"Whatever they're doing," said Sokka, busy with a pair of uncooperative spark-rocks. "If they don't get a move on they'll miss the main course."

"Main course? Sokka, tell me you're not making appetizers."

"Appetizers? You insult me. They're _hors d'oeuvres_."

"What's an _hors d'oeuvre_?" she whispered to Suki.

Suki shrugged. "I think it's foreign for 'out of work.'"

"What."

The _hors d'oeuvres_ turned out to be a sackful of crackers that Sokka had decorated with little fruits. They were surprisingly appetizing.

* * *

With Sokka and Suki helping her cook (and Suki making up for Sokka's mistakes when he wasn't looking), the work on the riceballs was going faster than she thought. She tried to let it fully occupy her mind, but in between stuffing and shaping, she kept straying to the scene she'd witnessed between Toph and Aang. She wanted to write it off as an exchange between friends, but their behavior towards each other was getting decidedly un-friend-like. Which wasn't to say it was unfriendly. More like the opposite of that. Toph was always going out of her way to touch him. And Aang didn't seem to mind. But then, it was Aang. To Katara's mind, he had trouble recognizing the line between close friendship and something more. Chances were he didn't understand what Toph meant by it, if she meant anything at all. Toph had such a tough and unyielding nature that Katara couldn't imagine she'd attracted to someone as easygoing and malleable as Aang. Probably. She dropped one riceball into the growing pile and picked up another.

Ty Lee and Mai quietly chatted some distance away. Katara thought Ty Lee looked very happy in the firelight. There was a great deal of pink in her cheeks that she hadn't noticed when they were on opposite sides of the war. Even Mai seemed more relaxed than she was when they were in the Fire Nation. Katara wished for Toph's ears. She'd love to know what Ty Lee was saying to make Mai smile like that. She dropped the last riceball onto the plate.

That was when Aang and Toph appeared. Ty Lee squealed and pulled Aang into a bone-crunching hug. Suki offered to stitch up his injury, which he politely declined. Even Mai bowed her head to him, which was her equivalent of an enthusiastic handshake. The only tense moment was when Sokka approached him, eyes narrowed.

"Hi," said Aang.

Ty Lee looked from Aang to Sokka, her hands at her mouth.

" _Hi_ ," said Sokka. He folded his arms across his chest and glowered. "So. It's been a while."

"Yeah. More than a year."

They stared at one another. Aang scratched the back of his head and smiled. Sokka narrowed his eyes and frowned harder. Aang glanced at Katara, then Toph, who'd sat down next to the dinner plate and was already on her third riceball. He swallowed and held his hand out to Sokka.

"Sokka, I-"

Sokka snorted and slapped Aang on the back. "Come on and eat. We made riceballs."

Sokka sat down next to Suki and draped his arm over her shoulders. She shoved a riceball into his mouth.

Aang stood there for a few seconds looking as bewildered as if he'd reached for his glider and found a fish instead. He looked at Katara. She shrugged, rolled her eyes and mouthed, ' _It's Sokka_.' A smile slowly spread across his face. He settled down between Katara and Ty Lee. Momo swooped onto his shoulder.

"Welcome back," said Katara, and she handed him a riceball.


	7. Paper

They discussed strategy late into the night. Suki thought that if they went in groups of three, they could cover more ground, and thus increase their chances of getting information on Zuko's whereabouts (Toph refused to enter the Spirit World on the grounds that she couldn't see). Sokka liked the idea. He asked Aang if he knew of any particularly knowledgeable spirits, but Aang said that he wasn't sure he wanted to go down that path yet. When Sokka pressed him, he shook his head and refused to say anything further. They decided to go to bed shortly after that.

Aang headed towards his usual room, while Toph decided to keep sleeping where she was, next to the remains of the dying fire. Katara didn't see where Ty Lee and Mai went. She thought she saw them heading towards her room, but just as she decided to follow them and find out, Sokka caught her arm.

"Hey, Katara," he said. "Can we talk for a minute?"

"Sure," she said. "What's up?"

"Just a minute," he nodded to Suki, who was walking up the stairs. She nodded back. Once she was out of sight, he turned to her, a serious expression on his face. "Toph says you've been going to the Spirit World every night in your dreams. Is that right?"

"That's right." Katara leaned against the wall, one hand on her upper arm. "I've been doing it ever since Zuko was poisoned. I don't know why, though."

"Have you ever had dreams like this before? Like, when we were kids, and you didn't tell me or something?"

"No... not that I can remember."

"Hm." Sokka frowned and folded his arms across his chest. "Listen. I'm not a mystic guy. I like stuff I can take apart and put back together again. Solid stuff, like meat. But I know enough from what Gran-Gran taught us that people don't spontaneously develop the ability to dream their way into the Spirit World. Aang can't even do it unless he's in the right place or it's the right time of year or whatever, and he's the Avatar. This dreaming thing that you can suddenly do? I don't trust it."

"Well..." said Katara. She looked at the ground, then looked at Sokka. "I _do_ think it's weird, and I seriously miss having a full night of sleep, but it's gotten us this far, hasn't it? We wouldn't even be here if it weren't for my dreams."

"That's the thing, though. Why would something that can trap a person's spirit between life and death somehow forget to keep you from showing up and figuring things out?"

Katara shrugged. "Maybe it's an absent-minded spirit?"

Sokka's shoulders shook as he gave a short, disbelieving laugh. "I hope so. Because if it isn't, then that means it wants you there. And I really, really don't like what that implies."

"But in every one of my dreams, I've been chased out of the Spirit World by something that obviously doesn't want me to be there. Whatever reason I can suddenly do this, it's making the bad guys mad. You don't have to worry about it."

"I don't know. It's too convenient. Something doesn't fit."

"Sokka," she said, putting one hand on her brother's shoulder and squeezing it. "It'll be fine. I can take care of myself."

His frown softened a little. "I still don't like it."

She shrugged. "And I don't like waking up at stupid hours just because I've had a bad dream. But it's gotten us this far, so I'm grateful for it."

"Be careful," said Sokka. "Seriously. Whatever you dream tonight, promise me you'll be careful."

"I promise," she said. "Now go to bed. Suki's waiting for you."

A familiarly dreamy expression crossed his face. "I love that woman. And I love you. Don't forget that, all right? If anything happened to you, I don't know what I'd do."

Katara carefully drew a rope of water from behind her back.

"Forget to guard your backside for waterwhips?" she said.

"What? Ow!"

It was amazing, really, how quickly brotherly concern could turn into brotherly attempted murder.

* * *

Katara opened her eyes to the cries of birds. She was sitting on the branch of a tree, in the midst of a flock of three legged-ravens. They preened and squabbled and called to each other. She tried to touch one and it hopped away, regarding her suspiciously out of one black eye.

"I won't hurt you," she said.

It opened its beak and cawed at her. Then it ruffled the feathers on its chest and continued preening itself, as if it hadn't been interrupted in the first place.

"Brave bird."

She looked up. She somehow wasn't surprised to see Zuko sitting on the tree branch across from her, his bare feet sticking out of the bottom of his black kimono. The shape of the tree was just visible through him, as if he were made of paper and someone had lit a candle behind him.

"I talked to Aang today," she said. "We're friends again."

"That's good," he said, not looking at her. "You missed him."

"I did. I missed him so much."

She blinked, and he was on another tree branch. A raven disappeared into his lap. It didn't seem to notice him.

"Everyone said we were destined for each other," she said.

The raven fluttered away. Zuko watched it as it flew. "Nothing's destined. You can't help who you love."

Katara picked a leaf off the tree and rubbed it between her fingers. "Nothing's easy either. I envy what you and Mai have."

"What we have?" He laughed. Katara wished she understood the joke. "What we have is history."

He vanished, reappeared next to her. His hand sank into hers. He looked at her, now.

"Is history so bad?" she asked. "We could fill a book with our history."

He grimaced. "It wouldn't be uplifting reading. Especially my parts."

She grinned at him. "True. You did mess up a lot. But I hear it has a good ending."

He was about to say something. He half-smiled in that way that never failed to make her stomach go weightless, and opened his mouth. Then he stopped. He didn't pause, or change his mind, he completely stopped, like a mosquito trapped in tree sap. It was like the time she froze Azula during Sozin's Comet, except there was no water around him – only the hot, stagnant air of the swamp.

"Zuko?"

She tried to touch him. The moment her fingers made contact, he dissolved and blew away like sand. She nearly fell off the tree in her effort to scramble backwards. She didn't know if it was her reaction or the suddenness of the fading daylight, but the flock of ravens flew away in a torrent of black feathers. When they were gone, so was the sun.

_Find the trunk_ , she told herself as she groped in the dark. _Don't let go no matter what happens. If you fall, you'll die_.

The branch she was on shook. _Something_ shifted its weight. She froze. It was right next to her. She could hear it breathing, feel it pressing the tree branch. It was light, like her, but its breath was hot in her ear. She fumbled with her pocket, trying to find her bone. There! Her fingers closed around it.

Before she could draw it, the thing next to her cackled in a high, mad voice, then shoved her off the tree.

* * *

Katara landed on the cold, stone floor of her room. The blankets were tangled around her legs. A cold breeze blew in through her open window, through which she could see a thin sliver of moon against a flat black sky. Her empty teacup was barely visible. It was a few hours before dawn, as usual.

"Ow..."

Groaning, she sat up and rubbed her arm. That was going to leave a bruise. _Better a bruise than death, though_ , she thought. She climbed back into her cot, careful not to strain her damaged arm.

"That was different," she muttered.

This was the first time the thing that chased her out of her dreams had outright attacked. It had menaced her, even set things on her, but it had never touched her before. Never shoved her to probable doom. She made a note to mention it to Sokka in the morning. He'd still argue that the whole situation was fishy, but he would at least have to agree with her forays into the Spirit World every night were decidedly not in the best interest of Zuko's captors.

_You can't help who you love,_ he'd said. She lightly touched her cheeks with her fingertips, feeling the heat grow there.

There was a gentle knock at her door. She closed her eyes and counted to five. It wouldn't do to kill the person on the other side of the door. There'd be a mess, and then who'd clean it up?

"Come in," she called, then muttered, "I wasn't asleep anyway."

The door opened, and Guru Pathik stuck his smiling head through the gap. "Ah, good morning, Miss Seventh Chakra. It is time to begin preparations for today's journey."

Her shoulders sagged. "Really? It's not even dawn yet, Guru."

"The earlier we begin, the more time you are likely to have in the Spirit World. Come! I have breakfast prepared already."

She imagined the breakfast he was likely to have made and shuddered. "...Is there tea?"

"The Avatar has already brewed a pot."

"Okay." She sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Okay. I'll be down in a minute."

He smiled, bowed and left, probably to wrestle Toph out of bed. _Good luck with that,_ she thought. Between Toph and Sokka, Pathik was going to have a hell of a morning.

Katara got out of her cot, paced over to her bag, rummaged through it, and pulled out a change of clothes. She was going to need a bath before anything. She pulled her door open and stepped into the austere hallway. Small doors opened on either side of her into equally small rooms. The nuns hadn't designed their sleeping quarters with luxury in mind, but they did design them to be as open to the air as possible. Her own room, for example, boasted a window large enough for Aang to comfortably stand in, and he wasn't exactly as small as he used to be. Cold morning wind ruffled her hair as she walked under the numerous skylights on the way to the bathing area. She wondered what they did when it rained. Judging from the well-worn troughs carved into the stone floor, probably nothing. Communing with the elements must have been a part of being an airbender.

She parted the tattered curtains over the entrance of the bathing area and was surprised to see that it was already occupied. A girl with light brown hair piled on top of her head sat up to her chin in water in the communal bath.

"Oh. Hi, Ty Lee." Katara draped her change of clothes across the bench near the entrance. "I didn't think anyone else would be up."

Ty Lee waved. "Hi yourself! I think that the best part of the morning is a nice long bath. Plus Guru Pathik wouldn't let me sleep anymore so I kind of had to find _something_ to wake myself up." She made a face. "I never get up this early in Kyoshi. Even Suki's not this bad. But you know what they say!"

"Er," said Katara.

She hesitated. Growing up, she'd never really thought about modesty when it came to washing off the stink of her winter furs in the bathhouse with the other women. But Ty Lee was a former enemy. Even if she was a friend now – one she saw in Kyoshi every year – Katara had never been entirely comfortable relaxing around her. Her body never really forgot the cold horror of losing her bending after one of Ty Lee's expert jabs. As she dropped her upper wrappings onto the bench with the rest of her clothes, she thought of how vulnerable she was without the layer of protection her clothes offered, no matter how small.

Ty Lee smiled at her. "Early to bed and early to wake makes a girl pretty, perky, and... oh, I forget the last one. It's really catchy though."

Then again, Katara reminded herself as she sat down on one of the smooth stones that surrounded the pool, Ty Lee wasn't the most subtle person in the world. She bent a rope of water out of the tub, grabbed a bar of soap, and began to wash her hair.

"Oh, wow! That's really neat." Ty Lee swam over and propped her chin at the edge of the pool. Do you think you could do mine later?"

"Um, sure."

"You didn't even bring a towel!" She sighed. "You're so lucky you're a waterbender, Katara."

A bit of soap dripped of Katara's hair and onto the floor.

"I never really thought about it. It's just a part of who I am. Like you and your chi blocking."

Ty Lee's eyes widened. "Oh no! I had to work really hard to learn that. You were born a waterbender."

"I still had to work at it. You didn't know me when I was first learning, but believe me, I was a mess. I was so clumsy I couldn't even do a waterwhip without accidentally drenching Sokka or whipping myself in the butt or something."

Ty Lee giggled. "Well, I probably shouldn't be saying this, but I've heard stories."

Katara scrubbed harder. "Oh? From whom?"

Ty Lee held up her hand and began to count off on her fingers. "Sokka, for one. He talks about you a lot. He says it's because you're an angry hate-filled maniac and talking about all the times you abused him helps him deal with the pain, but I think it's because he misses you. Suki too, but she only tells nice stories, or ones that are like examples to the other warriors and stuff. Oh, and Zuko."

Katara snorted. "I bet the ones he tells are _really_ flattering."

"They are, actually, once he gets done with the pirate one. His aura goes all glowy whenever he talks about you. Did he really tie you to a tree?"

She lifted a globule of water from the tub and wrung the soap out of her hair. She could still remember his voice in her ear, _In return, I can give you something you've lost_. "Yes, he did. He was a stupid, self-righteous jerk about it, too."

"He _was_ kind of a dork, wasn't he?"

"Tch. You could call it that."

Katara sank into the water until it covered her chin. Ty Lee stirred the water in front of her until it became a tiny whirlpool. Katara twitched her finger and made it spin minutely faster. Ty Lee smiled, and Katara leaned against the edge of the bath. Patterns of light reflected off the water and cast wrinkled shapes on the ceiling.

"Glowy, huh?" said Katara.

"Uh huh. Mai says he should just marry you and get it over with. But I think she's being sarcastic."

"Mai? Sarcastic? I'm shocked."

Ty Lee frowned. "You know, she's actually really nice. I know she's a little prickly, but you shouldn't act like she doesn't have any feelings. She likes you a lot."

Katara remembered the look Mai gave her in Zuko's room, and the way she'd greeted her the previous night. "She... likes me? She said that?"

"Well..." Ty Lee tapped her chin. "What she actually said was that she respects you, but that means a lot coming from Mai. It basically means she thinks you're cool. You should take some time to get to know her. I bet you two would be really good friends. You have really similar auras."

Katara thought of palm wine, and Mai's subtle smile. _You can't help who you love_.

"I don't know... I've never really known what to say to her."

"Now that we're all together again, you'll have plenty of chances to practice!" declared Ty Lee. "I'm sure she's dying to trade secrets with you and everything!"

"Secrets..." said Katara.

She thought of the neat desk, the made bed, and the way the wind gently stirred the curtains of Mai's unnaturally empty room. There was something about the way she left that felt... well, Katara didn't know how it made her feel.

_I might have a lot to tell you if I'm right about Mai..._

"Ty Lee. Did Mai say anything to you about what she did in the Earth Kingdom?"

"Um... negotiations and stuff with the Earth King. Oh!" Ty Lee splashed a bit as she covered her smiling mouth with one hand. "There was _something_."

Katara leaned forward. "What?"

Ty Lee dropped her hands and leaned against the edge of the pool, grinning like a penguin-seal with an especially tasty fish. "I don't know if I should tell you. It's kind of private right now. Though I guess it'll be all over the Earth Kingdom once we get off this mountain... oh, I can't. Mai'd kill me."

"Can't you give me a hint?"

"He he. Nope!" Ty Lee climbed out of the pool and unpinned her hair. "Can you wash my hair now? We should hurry if we want to get some breakfast."

Katara sighed. "Sure," she said, and hoisted herself onto the stones.

She recognized the change in subject, and filed her curiosity away for later. If she knew Ty Lee, she'd eventually crack. She'd never known anyone to be worse at keeping secrets. She pulled a rope of water from the pool behind her and wrapped it around Ty Lee's hair. Then she bent the film of liquid off the bar of soap she'd used earlier and mixed it into the water. Twisting her wrists this way and that, she made the soap lather itself.

"Thanks," sighed Ty Lee, wiggling her toes. "This isn't as nice as Azula's hair-combing room, but it's way more comfy."

Katara felt a tug at the corner of her thoughts. A spark, a hand with pointed nails, a laugh in the dark. Ty Lee's content humming soon banished the image from her mind.

"Did she shoot lightning at you if you got too comfortable?"

"Not that I can remember." Ty Lee's eyes widened and she looked over her shoulder, foam dripping down her back. "Oh no! Do you think she did and I forgot because of the trauma? I've read about that happening!"

"You'd remember," said Katara. She pointed to the other girl's back. "You'd have a scar to remind you. Like Aang."

_Like Zuko_ , she thought.

"Oh!" Ty Lee's demeanor immediately brightened. "You're right! Phew! I was worried for a second."

A light padding sound made Katara looked over her shoulder just in time to see Mai part the curtains. Her fingers tightened in Ty Lee's hair.

"Oh, hi, Mai!" said Ty Lee, waving with exuberance. "I'm getting my hair washed."

Mai wore a silk robe and carried a pile of clothes in her arms. "I can see that."

"You should go next! Katara's really good at it."

"No thanks. I can wash myself."

"I'm about to go help with breakfast, anyway," said Katara.

"Right."

Mai set her own change of clothes next to Ty Lee's. She looked at Katara for a moment, one eyebrow raised, then shrugged her robe off. Her paper-pale skin was soft and beautiful, even in the dim light of the pre-dawn sun that shone through the skylight. Mai's face betrayed no embarrassment as she calmly walked into the water, her dark hair floating behind her like an unfurled fan. Katara watched her sink into the water and her heart constricted.

No wonder all the ministers in the Fire Nation spoke of her as the next Fire Lady. No wonder he liked her. With her hair down and her bulky robes gone, Katara fully understood exactly what it was that made some of the nastier courtiers in the palace whisper insults as Mai passed.

_Smart, deadly,_ and _beautiful_ , she thought. _Zuko never stood a chance, did he?_

Ty Lee waved a hand in front of Katara's face. "Katara? Hello?"

"Hm?" Katara looked back down only to realize that she'd stopped moving. "Oh! Sorry. I kind of spaced out. Stand up and I'll rinse you off."

"Roger!" Ty Lee leapt to her feet, saluting. Foam flung off her hand and hit Katara in the forehead. "Oops! Sorry about that."

"It's fine."

Katara wrapped the other girl's head in a blanket of water and squeezed all the soap out of it. Mai, she noticed, was watching with interest. She tried not to pay attention. Then, with one wave of her hand, she bent all the water off both of them. It splashed anticlimactically onto the floor. Ty Lee squealed in delight.

"Thanks! My hair feels so light and foofy now! You're really good at that."

Katara shrugged, fighting the scowl that was threatening to rise on her face. "I've had a lot of practice. Well. I'm going to head to breakfast."

Ty Lee nodded. "I'll stay here with Mai until she's done. Right, Mai?"

Mai tilted her head just slightly. "Why ask me? Do you want my permission?"

Ty Lee held her hand to her mouth and giggled. "Oh, Mai. You know I don't need that."

Katara looked from one girl to the other. There was a growing sense of... something there. She didn't know what it was, but suddenly she felt very out-of-place. Like an ocean kumquat in a bowl of sea prunes. She stepped backwards, nearly tripping over the bench that held her clothes. She grabbed her wrappings without looking and began to get dressed as quickly as possible. Mai and Ty Lee watched her for a few moments, then began conversing in voices low enough that Katara couldn't hear.

Katara fastened her tunic in place, tucked her hair behind her ears, and took a step towards the door.

"Um... I'll see you two later."

"Bye!" called Ty Lee. Mai nodded in Katara's direction and returned to her conversation.

Katara parted the tattered series of curtains and walked into the hallway, multiple questions vying for attention in her head. The one that repeated itself the loudest, though, was what Ty Lee had told her about Mai, or had been about to tell her. She'd never had the opportunity to fight alongside Mai, but she did remember the battles they'd shared against one another. She remembered the flash of fire in Mai's eyes and the telling smile about her mouth. It was easy enough to concede that Mai respected her as a fighter. But as a person? She recalled their terse arguments in the Fire Nation, while she tried her best to raise Zuko from his coma and Mai made demoralizing comments and complained about how long she was taking. If Mai did respect her, as Ty Lee insisted, she had a strange way of showing it.

* * *

Breakfast was an informal affair, begun as soon as the first pink streaks of dawn cut paths through the dwindling stars. It wasn't the exclusively onion-banana juice affair that Katara had been dreading, but a well-prepared pot of jook, mixed with caramelized fruit chunks and sweet ropes of honey. They ate it in the plaza in front of the nuns' barracks, some standing, some sitting, and Toph snoring.

"This is really good," Katara said, her mouth full. She swallowed. "Who made this?"

Aang raised his hand. She registered that her sense of surprise was milder than a few days ago, when she'd eaten the noodles he'd made. Was he going to spend the entire mission surprising her? She set her spoon down in the empty bowl.

"You'll have to give me the recipe."

Sokka screwed up his eyes in Aang's direction and pointed his dripping spoon at him. "How'd you get so good at cooking? Last year you couldn't even chop things properly."

"Picking stuff up quickly is a part of being the Avatar." Aang stood up, stretched until his back let off a series of pops that left Mai and Suki wincing. "Looks like everyone's almost done. Are we ready to go?"

"One moment, if you please!" Guru Pathik handed Aang a foul-smelling concoction of herbs. "Drink this. It will help with your injury, my friend."

Aang sniffed it and recoiled. Momo, riding on his shoulder, did the same. "...really? This smells like Appa's bison cakes."

"Really really. Drink up! It's blended from the finest herbs and spices!"

Aang grimaced, held his nose, and raised the concoction to his lips.

"By the time we get to the shrine it'll be light out," said Katara, looking at the color of the horizon. "It takes an hour just to get through the forest, so we'll have to travel in the dark for a while, but we should be safe."

"Why can't we fly there?" asked Mai. "We have a flying bison, don't we?"

Aang hacked, pounded his chest, and practically threw the empty coconut shell back at Guru Pathik. "Uuuugh. Appa won't get close, and I'm not going to make him. Right, buddy?"

Appa put his front paw on Aang's shoulder and nuzzled him. Nearby, Bruiser growled.

"Easy, easy. Appa's not going to cheat on you just because of a little nuzzling action." Suki slapped the badgermole's flanks with an easy hand. It let out a great huff of air.

"Appa and Aang are _bros_ ," added Sokka. Bruiser didn't look convinced.

"Cheat on you?" said Katara. She pointed from Appa to Bruiser and back again. "Wait a minute. Is Appa...?"

Appa sighed indignantly, and Sokka actually clutched at his chest in horror. In her (probably feigned) sleep, Toph snorted.

"Into boys?" said Suki. She laughed. "Who knows? Bruiser's a girl. Aren't you, you big, pretty warrior-princess?"

She scratched Bruiser on both cheeks, making kissing sounds until the animal actually started to purr.

"How long have you two been together?" asked Mai.

Katara pretended to choke on her tea. This resulted in most of it spilling down her front. She bent it back into her cup.

Suki glared in Mai's direction. "Bruiser is a part of the workforce that dug the tunnel from Kyoshi to the mainland. Toph found her for us. And aren't we so glad she did?"

"Yeah, yeah, she's not as scary as most badgermoles. She didn't do all the work, though. I designed it." Sokka pointed to himself, smirking. "Now all kinds of food comes through Kyoshi. It's getting really metropolitan."

"Wow. I bet it's just like Ba Sing Se," said Mai.

Toph snorted, and Suki looked pointedly back at Bruiser. Before Sokka could parse what Mai said, Katara tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, Sokka," she whispered, "I need to talk to you for a second. Could you...?"

"What? Oh. Oh! Sure."

Sokka got up and followed her to the edge of their campsite. Behind them, Suki and Mai began a conversation about knives that sounded as pointed as its subject matter. Katara was grateful for the noise.

"What's up?" asked Sokka in a low, concerned voice.

"You know our conversation last night? When you said whatever has Zuko wants me to be there? Well, last night, whatever-it-was pushed me out of the dream."

She rolled up her sleeve and showed him the bruise she'd gotten when she hit the floor. He hissed through his teeth.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine," she said, pushing her sleeve down again. "But I was right, wasn't I? They don't want me there. So someone good must be on our side."

Sokka shifted on his feet. "I don't know..."

"Oh, come on! This proves it, doesn't it?"

"No, it doesn't," said Sokka, his tone flat and serious. "You said there were two of them, right?"

"Right. That rude monkey said they were a Spirit and a mortal.."

"So if there's two of them, maybe they both don't want the same thing. Maybe one wants you there and the other doesn't."

She thought of the Water Tribe man who'd given her the amazing disappearing, reappearing bone. What if he was the Spirit? What if he'd put on a friendly face to win her trust and give her something that would backstab her in the end? She pushed the thought aside. No, no way.

"I don't know how to explain it," she said. "But I just know there's someone good looking out for me. So drop it, okay?"

He held up one finger. "If it you can't explain something, the simplest solution is usually the right one. Some benevolent third party helping you doesn't make sense. Makes things too complicated. Ergo, it has to be one of the two guys the monkey mentioned who're bringing you there. My money's on the Spirit."

Katara resisted the urge to stomp her foot. "You're impossible!"

"I'm just looking out for you," he said, holding up his palms.

"At any rate," she said in a carrying voice, "We should go. We don't have a lot of time as it is and we really don't need to spend it socializing. Right, Aang?"

Aang looked startled to be asked for his opinion. "What?"

"We need to go," said Katara. "Now."

"Uh, yeah, I guess."

"Then it's settled." Katara put her hands on her hips and regarded everyone. "Let's go. Everybody pile onto Appa."

She had to jump to avoid Bruiser's jealous swipe.

* * *

The journey through the forest was conducted primarily in whispered conversation, if they spoke at all. Occasionally, Toph or Mai would let everyone know how ridiculous it was for them to have to walk, but Katara quickly shushed them. She was in no mood to indulge.

They reached the Temple of the Green Pool just as the sun broke over the trees and cast them in a warm false-twilight.

"When we get to the Spirit World," Aang was saying. "We're looking for information on an old, powerful spirit and a person who are working together. Ask any Spirit you see if they can tell you anything, but be careful not to offend any of them. The Spirit World is a dangerous place and we want to spend as little time there as we possibly can. I'm hoping we'll get lucky and get some good leads."

"When are we ever lucky?" asked Toph, cracking her knuckles.

"Not often," said Aang. "But sometimes."

Toph punched Aang in the shoulder. "Optimist."

"This place is unreal," said Sokka. "If we could clear some of the trees away, we could make this place fully sustainable. I'm talking twenty people sustainable. Maybe even forty. There's a lot of potential here."

"Once we clear out the spirits, I'll hire you to renovate," said Aang.

He held out his hand to help Toph up the rock. She smacked it away, and Katara saw Aang smile at her for it.

"You know," said Sokka, scratching his chin as he approached the pool with the stone steps leading into it. "I could probably rig up a sprinkler system with this water if I can find enough bamboo st-"

A black, watery hand shot out from the pool and clamped over his mouth, followed in quick succession by more black, inky hands than Katara could count. They grabbed hold of his body and Katara knew before he fell that they were going to pull him in. She didn't think. She leapt after him, her hand outstretched. They sliced into the water like dropped swords.

Everything was the dark blue of an hour after midnight. It felt to Katara that she was underwater, but she could breathe just as well as if she were floating on the surface of it.

"Sokka!" she shouted. Bubbles erupted all around her. "Where are you!"

A cacophony of whispers responded. She involuntarily kicked her legs to get away from the sound, but it was all around her, whistling like dried leaves in the wind.

"...Avatar..."

"...lost, oh, oh..."

"...dark here..."

"...Gods, the trees are..."

"...mumma?"

It was cold, so cold, so lonely. No one would find her. No one would bother. She was a burden, a thing no one wanted, another bottomless hole that no one could fill. She would die and everyone would be better for it. Her eyes burned. She couldn't breathe. Every muscle in her body went into spasms, but her mind said no. It was better to let it happen. Better to die. Slowly, too slowly, she relaxed. Hundreds of icy fingers brushed past her as she sank. They would be there to catch her when she finally hit the bottom.

Instead of soft lakebed, her backside landed on damp dirt, hard. It punched the breath back into her. Damp weeds tickled her arm as she rolled onto her side and hacked up black water.

"Katara!" said Aang. "You're okay!"

She was surrounded by orange cloth and warm arms. Vaguely, she registered that her whole body was dry, even though her lungs were choked with water and her skin was livid with cold. She coughed into Aang's shoulder, shivering. He was a sun-warmed wall after the void.

"Wh-" she coughed, jerked her head away, and spat out more water.

A narrow hand lifted her chin. She opened her eyes to see Mai staring at her.

"Her eyes aren't dilated. How many fingers do you see?"

She held up her hand. Katara squinted.

"Two?"

Mai looked over her shoulder at someone and nodded. "She'll be fine."

"Good," said Suki. She knelt down and looked Katara in the face. Her own was hard. "Did you see Sokka?"

Katara shook her head. Suki's lips went thin. She stood. A dim, yellow sun burned in the sky behind her.

Katara frowned. "How'd we get to the Spirit World?"

"Guru Pathik," said Aang.

He pulled Katara to her feet. Her legs felt wobbly as kelp stems.

"We thought you were a goner!" said Ty Lee. Her grey eyes, so like Aang's, were wide. "You and Sokka both went 'poof!' like firecrackers before you even hit the water! It was really scary."

Katara used Aang's shoulder to steady herself. "Where's Toph?"

"She stayed behind," said Suki. She rapped one of her fans against her leg.

"Suki, she can't see here," said Aang. "There wasn't any point to her coming."

"Sure," said Suki. She turned to Katara. "What happened?"

Katara's limbs were starting to feel less like seaweed and more like arms and legs again. She shook as she rubbed the life back into them.

"I don't know what happened. It was like being underwater, but all these things were whispering at me at the same time. I don't know what they wanted. It was awful. I felt like..."

She trailed off, shivering.

"Like what?" Aang prompted. He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "Hey. You're fine now."

She shook her head. "No, I'm not fine. Sokka's still there."

A cold wind ruffled everyone's clothes. Ty Lee stepped a little closer to Mai and a cloud rolled under the sun. Katara looked up. A thick, white cloud tinged with black was falling towards them, slowly as snow. Pieces of it broke off, a little at a time, until the whole cloud became a flattened spiral. Words hissed in the wind.

"...help..."

"...couldn't find..."

"...help us..."

"...you said..."

"...Avatar."

What looked like the ghosts of every person to die in the forest for the past 100 years slowly descended around them, until they were surrounded on all sides by a wall of swirling spirits. Katara caught sight of old men and women, small children, squalling infants, and countless malformed shapes that were either never human or who had probably forgotten how to be. Frost formed on the grass in counterpoint to the slow maelstrom. Crystals crept onto Katara's shoes, her clothes, her skin. She saw an icicle form on the end of Aang's staff. He swung his staff and the icicle was flung to the ground.

"What do you want?" he demanded.

They all spoke at once.

"...reincarnation..."

"...promise..."

"...help..."

Aang tried to point his staff at the source of the voice, but it was all around him. Ty Lee stood back to back with Mai, her eyes following something that moved out of synch with the rest of the swirl. Suki held up her fans.

"Give Sokka back," she growled.

"...no, we..."

"...never..."

"...trust..."

"Suki, I don't think you should talk to them like that," said Aang.

"Shut up!" She lunged at them, fans out, and cut a slice in the wall of fog. It dissipated for a few seconds, then closed around her and began to creep up her arms.

The expression on her face wavered for a moment, then reformed, and she yelled, "He didn't do anything to you!"

"...all guilty..."

"...no one came..."

"...I'm scared, help me, oh I..."

"...someone must..."

The tendrils of fog seemed to become more solid. They crept halfway up her wrists.

"Ow. Ow! That- let me go! OW! Aaaa-"

She dissolved into a scream. Where the effluvium touched her bare skin, it blackened like frostbite.

"Stop!" Aang's eyes flickered and for a brief moment, Katara was sure he would go into the Avatar state. But then he staggered backwards like he'd been kicked in the chest. The cut on his face that had finally scabbed over broke open and dark blood slid down his chin.

Suki's screams broke into pieces in time with her rapid breathing. The smoke was past her elbows now, and spidery lines like black veins coated her exposed skin. Katara threw her arms around Suki's waist and pulled. Both girls dug for purchase on the ground, but it was too slippery. Their feet slid beneath them. Katara lost her grip and fell.

"Heh- he- he- he- he-" panted Suki. Her face and eyes were stark white.

Two things happened at once. Katara dug herself into the ground and launched herself at Suki's waist, and Ty Lee lowered her shoulders and hurled herself into Suki like a mad komodo rhino. There was a moment of resistance as both girls made contact with their friend, and then with a barely audible crack, they tore her free, rolling over one another on the icy grass.

Suki tore up grass in fistfuls and rubbed it into her arms. Every breath she took made her wince. Ty Lee wrapped her arm around Suki's shoulder and Suki rewarded her with an elbow to the gut.

"Sorry," said Suki between clenched teeth. "Reflex. Rib broken."

"That's okay," wheezed Ty Lee, rubbing her belly.

"Breathe slowly," said Katara. She took one of Suki's arms in hers and began to apply the grass to her blackened skin.

The swirl stopped. Then, as if they were all attached to the same fishing line, the white shadows jerked upward until they all coalesced into a tight white sphere. An appendage shot out, bent, and grew what looked like fingers. Three more followed suit, then the sphere lengthened into a column with an asymmetrical blob on top. It looked like a child's drawing of a person, only without such details as clothing and eyes. A gash appeared on the center of the head. It opened.

"Avatar."

Aang wiped the blood off his face. "What did you do to my friend! Let Sokka go!"

"Not yet. Way home."

"What?" Aang frowned.

"Home," the thing repeated. It reached its spiny fingers to the sun.

_I can't find the way._

Katara's heart turned to mud in her chest. "It's the little girl. The one we saw yesterday."

Aang went still.

"She did what you said," Katara whispered. The mud in her chest dried and turned to dust. "She told everyone. Now they're here. They're ready for you to show them how to move on."

Aang shook his head, his mouth slightly open. "But I... I don't know where the Great Wheel of Reincarnation is!"

" _What?_ "

"I thought they'd have more patience than this!"

"So say something to them! Get Sokka back before they get really impatient."

He raised his staff to the amalgamation of spirits. "Honorable spirits. I'm sorry, but I can't help you right now. As soon as I can, I'll come and lead you to the Wheel of Reincarnation, but for now there's nothing I can do. Please let my friend go."

The thing seemed to ripple. Its head shook so fast it was like a hummingbee's wings. When it opened its mouth again, it spoke in the voice of an old man.

"No. Ours now. No more waiting."

Black fangs grew into its lipless mouth. Katara felt her heart shake like skin stretched over a drum. It lifted one arm and pressed it against its chest, fingertips down. There was a moment of resistance, and then it sank into its body as easily as if it were seal blubber. It didn't seem to react to the pain it had to be feeling, even when it dug around in itself. Finally its hand seemed to catch on something. It went completely still, then slowly pulled out a dripping, transparent cocoon.

"Sokka!" Katara shouted.

He hung suspended in the middle of the cocoon. One hand was sprawled across his chest, and the other still held his sword. His clothes and hair floated oddly around him, but the rise and fall of his chest meant that he was unmistakably alive. She made to run to him but Aang held her by the arm.

"Don't," he said. "You saw what happened to Suki. If it touches you, it'll kill you."

Katara glanced at Suki, who was holding her side and wincing. The black marks on her skin had yet to fade. Katara forced herself to turn away and look Aang in the face.

"Then give them what they want. Say you'll help them."

He shook his head. "I can't. I don't even know where to take them."

She dug her nails into Aang's upper arm. He winced and tried to pull away, but she held on tight.

"If you don't give them what they want they're going to _kill Sokka_. You are _not_ telling me that after you promised to help them that you don't know how to do it. I'm not letting you tell me that. You went to the Spirit World five years ago and you found out where Tui and La's mortal forms were. You'd never been to the Spirit World in your life, but you did it. _There has to be something you can do._ "

Aang twisted away from her. "Enma would have known! He's the Spirit of the Dead! But we can't talk to him after what you did yesterday! I told you not to make him mad!"

She drew back like she'd been kicked in the chest. "Are you saying this is my fault!"

He looked away miserably and muttered something that Katara couldn't hear.

She noticed out of the corner of her eye the ghosts' fingers lengthening, becoming sharp at the points. They were unmistakably headed towards Sokka. Katara dug in her pocket for her bone, the bone that killed spirits, but it was nowhere to be found.

_No, no, please no, no this is my fault, no, no._

"Stop!" Katara shouted. "Please, we'll do whatever you say! Take me, kill me instead! He's my brother, that's my brother, please!"

Another ripple passed along the skin of the thing, and it held still. For a moment, Katara thought her words had reached whatever fragments of charity remained in those myriad souls. Then another shudder wracked its form, and the claws continued their inexorable descent towards Sokka's face.

Aang ran his hand over his face and shuddered. "I'll talk to Koh," he murmured.

"No!" squeaked Ty Lee. The thing's finger pierced the membrane of the cocoon.

Aang seemed to steel himself, then raised his staff. "I'll go to Koh!" he shouted.

The thing stopped. Slowly, agonizingly slowly, it cocked its head. Two long tendrils extended from the places on its head where eyes might be. Black spheres bloomed from their ends. Katara was thankful that the Spirit World didn't seem to transfer over such things as breakfast, or hers would be on the ground.

"Koh," it repeated. "Your word?"

"Give me my friend back and you'll have it."

The thing's eyestalks retracted, then expanded. "Swear."

"...leave me to die..."

"...after I fed and slaved for..."

"...are you? I'm scared, mu..."

"...stay here. They'll be..."

"I know you've been hurt," he said. "And I know you have trouble trusting people. But you don't have to do this."

"You didn't have to do it in the first place!" said Katara. "We would have helped you anyway. Ask the Painted Lady. We don't turn our backs on people who need us."

"Not people," it said.

It slid Sokka back into its body. Suki moaned into her hands.

"So keep him until we reach Koh. You can kill him if it looks like we're going to run. Is that good enough?"

It was Mai. Her hands were tucked into her sleeves, and her voice was cool and even.

"Mai?" said Aang. "What are you-"

"Shut up," she said, out of the corner of her mouth.

The thing cocked it's lumpy head. "Yes," it said in a voice like cracking ice.

Mai bowed, her hands still in her sleeves. "Then we'll see you there."

It straightened and gave a jerky bow, then it dissolved in a spiral of white smoke that shot towards the unmoving sun. All the ice on the ground and on their clothes turned to water as the temperature returned to its normal jungle-like humidity.

Mai shook the water off her hand. "Ick. I don't know how you deal with this on a regular basis."

Katara walked up to her, trembling. She saw Mai draw back a fraction of an inch, her eyes narrow and wary. Then Katara pulled her into a tight hug. Water splashed out of their clothes from the force of it.

"I don't like your methods," said Katara. "But you probably just saved Sokka's life. Thank you."

Mai pushed her away. Katara thought she saw her blush, but wrote it off as a trick of the light. "Whatever it takes to get us out of this slimy sauna."

Suki forced herself to her feet. Ty Lee immediately offered her hand to help, but Suki waved it off. She held her side and winced as she rose. Once she was steady, she hobbled to Mai until they stood practically nose to nose.

"If this results in anything but Sokka coming back to us safe, healthy, and whole, I'll will personally feed you to the ghosts."

"Your gratitude is overwhelming."

"Mai!" said Ty Lee. "Be nice! She's hurt."

"Let me see your arms," said Katara.

Suki held them up and Katara gingerly took them. Suki's tunic, while sturdy and light and good for most hand-to-hand combat situations, had the disadvantage of short sleeves. Most of Suki's wrists were protected with bracers, but the exposed parts of her hands and her arms halfway past her elbows were covered in spidery black streaks. They looked like charcoal marks, only when Katara rubbed them, they didn't disappear.

"Does it still hurt?"

Suki nodded. "Not as bad as it did, but yeah."

Katara bit her lip. She had no idea how to fix that kind of injury. If Aang's face was any guide, once she got to the physical world she wouldn't be able to heal it with waterbending.

When she spoke, she had trouble meeting Suki's eyes. "Guru Pathik will be able to help you. I know he will. Don't worry."

Suki nodded again, but didn't look hopeful.

"I'm glad nothing _really_ bad happened to you," said Ty Lee. "A broken rib will heal, and if those black thingies don't go away, you can probably turn them into really cool tattoos."

"What's a Koh?" asked Mai.

"Koh is a monster who steals faces."

Everyone turned to Aang. He rubbed his arm, and Katara felt a surge of guilt.

"Aang, I-"

"It's okay, Katara," he said. "You were right. There was something I could do."

* * *

They stopped just before the rocks that led to Koh's tree. It sat on the crest of a spire of earth that jutted out of a sea of fog like a broken bone. There was something strange about the tree that Katara couldn't put her finger on. It had no leaves, but that wasn't unusual for the time of year. Though did the Spirit World have seasons? She shook her head, pushing the question aside. The tree's fat trunk was crowned with a sunburst of knobbly branches, and at the base, she could see the entrance to a cave.

"This is it," said Aang. "Koh's realm."

"Charming," said Suki.

Aang shrugged. "It fits his personality." He held out his arm. "This is as far as everyone goes."

"Excuse me?" said Katara. She folded her arms across her chest. "You're not going alone."

Aang shook his head. "Guys, I'm serious. The only way Koh can steal your face is if you show emotion. It'll be easier for me not to do that if I don't have to worry about him attacking you."

"Why does it have to be you who goes?" asked Mai. "If all it takes is to not show any emotion, I'll have any answer you want in ten minutes."

"I wasn't going to say it..." said Suki.

"I'm the one who has to lead the ghosts to the Wheel," said Aang. "It doesn't make any sense if someone else goes."

"But what if you get attacked on the way there, or you get hurt?" said Katara. "At least one person should go with you to watch your back."

"No," said Aang, in the firm tone that he normally reserved for rebels or bureaucrats. "I need you to guard the entrance. If something comes up behind me while I'm talking to Koh, I might get surprised and make a face. Make sure nothing does. Can you do that for me?"

Suki nodded and drew her fans, wincing a little as her arm brushed against her side. "I can't promise much, but I'll do what I can. Just make sure you get Sokka back."

Ty Lee cracked her knuckles and Mai pulled on her sleeve, checking her knives. Once they got out of this mess, thought Katara, she was going to corner Suki and make her teach her some good hand to hand combat.

"If you're not out of there in ten minutes, I'm coming after you."

Aang lightly touched her shoulder. "Trust me. I'll be fine as long as I can go alone. Koh doesn't like multiple visitors unless he's stealing their faces." He smiled at his grim joke. "I'll be back soon."

"Ten minutes," Katara repeated.

Aang nodded. He opened his glider and raised it over his head even though there was no way for him to bend the air around him. Then he hopped to the closest pillar of stone, followed by the next, until he disappeared into the entrance of Koh's cave.

"Want to go after him in five?" asked Suki.

"La himself couldn't stop me."

"Right," said Suki, tapping her thigh with a closed fan and giving a slight smile. "No reason to try, then."

Katara wrapped her arms around her middle and gave a short nod.

* * *

She hated waiting. It wasn't that she lacked patience; far from it, she had enough patience to run a school full of overeager children and keep up with Aang for four years. It was the feeling of not being involved, of not being there to help, of not knowing. Her mind would get stuck in an endless cycle of what ifs and if onlys for so long that she inevitably ended up frustrated and angry and liable to lash out at unsuspecting bystanders. Either that, or something somewhere would end up extremely clean.

Usually, she could at least practice her waterbending to let off some frustration. She saw Mai examine a stiletto she pulled from her hair. And she wasn't even armed! The only combat she knew was waterbending, and that was about as useful here as a toothpick in a swordfight. No, she thought, it was coming _unarmed to a freaking war_. Here she was, the most accomplished waterbender of her age, unable to bend the tiniest splash. Even the strange bone she'd received had deserted her. She shoved her hand in her pocket again just in case she'd missed it and felt only rough fabric.

_Thanks, Mr. Not-a-Shaman,_ she thought. _Really useful gift_.

She kicked a small rock with enough viciousness that it shot away like a comet. It hit the side of one of the stone pillars and ricocheted into the mists.

"That rock will never threaten us again," said Suki.

"Sorry. I'm just... antsy. I hate this."

"I know what you mean."

"Katara! Why don't you come here and join us!" said Ty Lee. She waved her hand at a spot next to her, where she was sitting with her legs akimbo. She laid the back of her hands against her knees. "Meditation can really clear the mind."

"It helps if your mind is already empty to begin with," said Mai.

She had apparently declined Ty Lee's invitation, unless she'd invented a new form of meditation that involved repeatedly tossing a knife in the air and catching it by the handle.

"Thanks," said Katara, "But I don't think I'll be able to relax enough."

"Well, it's not really a matter of relaxation..." Ty Lee began.

"It's okay." Katara, held up her hands. "I need to work off some energy."

Ty Lee shrugged. "Suit yourself. Mai, could you tap me on the shoulder if something happens?"

"Sure."

She gave a sunny smile and closed her eyes, settling easily into the same stance Katara had seen Aang fall into countless times. The incessant swish of Mai's knife didn't seem to bother her at all. She wondered how someone who seemed so... well, so airheaded, there wasn't really another word for it, could have such a strong connection to the spiritual. She remembered Ty Lee's wide, grey eyes, so much like Aang's. Maybe she was related to the Air Nomads? She'd have to ask Aang what he thought when he came back. Maybe Zuko would have access to a family history of some kind.

Zuko. Her pacing became harried. How much time had they lost already? How much time had Sokka lost? And what if Aang never came out? Gods, if she lost all of them, she would find whoever was responsible for this mess in the first place and she would tear their hearts from them and-

Mai caught the handle of her knife and jerked her head around to the mist-filled crevasse, frowning. "Did you hear that?"

Before Katara could say, 'hear what?' a sloppy, wet, sucking sound echoed from the mist. Katara hesitated for a moment, then peered over the edge, hoping that whatever it was, it wasn't headed for them.

Naturally, it was.

A huge, tentacled hand covered in sickly grey flesh that hung over it like an ill-fitting shroud slapped onto the stones at her feet. Katara jumped backwards just before the second one landed right where she'd been standing, tripping over Ty Lee in the process. Mai hauled her to her feet and stepped in front of her. Suki already had her fans out, and Ty Lee nimbly leapt onto a nearby rock, hands in all-too-familiar points. Katara shifted somewhere behind them, hating how useless she was. A third hand, then a fourth landed a few feet from Mai, and finally the thing's head crested the cliff. Like its hands, skin hung of it in ugly folds. It didn't appear to have a face until an invisible seam on its head split and revealed three rows of spear-like teeth. Jerking, it hauled itself upward, and its thick, wormlike body ended in four long, many-jointed legs, like a spider's.

"Ty Lee, Mai, give it some room. It may not attack us," Suki said, her voice shaking. "Katara, take my arm and get me out of the way."

Katara ran from the cover Mai provided and grabbed Suki. She drug her out of the way as fast as she could, but not fast enough to avoid a slap on the arm from one of the monster's tentacle-like appendages. It smarted like a jelly-ray sting. She winced and dove behind a huge boulder, Suki in tow. They skidded a short distance until they hit a tree trunk.

"So much for it not attacking," said Katara. "Are you okay?"

"Fine. Leave me here," said Suki through gritted teeth.

Katara nodded once, and leapt back into the fray. In her absence, Mai had managed to sink a few knives into the thing's fingers, and it was occupied in hissing and tugging at them, trying to free itself from where it had been pinned.

"I can't find any pressure points!" shouted Ty Lee, flipping backwards, spinning on one foot, and lunging again. Everywhere she jabbed, her fingers seemed to sink in, then rebound as if fired from a bow.

"Keep trying!" shouted Katara.

She picked up a sizable rock from the ground and threw it at the thing's head. It hissed and snapped in her direction, black teeth barely missing the skin of her knuckles.

"Cute _and_ well-coordinated!" she growled, grabbing another rock. "Your mother must be so proud."

"Please," said Mai, landing another knife in one of the monster's legs. It squealed. "Don't strain yourself trying to come up with good insults."

"Good insul-" Katara sputtered. "It's the heat of battle! It's not like you could do any better!"

Mai gave a smile that suggested otherwise and leapt out of the path of the monster's sweeping tentacles.

Katara threw another rock, and this time, it hit the monster square on the face, right where its nose would have been. Its front hands scrabbled at the spot, and with a strangely deep roar that Katara felt instead of heard, it lunged. Gashes opened in the earth under its claws. Ty Lee squeaked and jumped out of the way, but Mai wasn't so lucky. It caught her full in the stomach with a huge hand and she was knocked against Suki's boulder.

"Mai!" screamed Ty Lee.

Mai slumped to the ground, gasping and clutching her stomach. Katara guessed that the wind had been knocked out of her. Katara grabbed another rock and threw it at the monster, hoping to distract it, but it was on Mai in those few precious seconds it took her to regain her breath.

Katara didn't think. She scrambled to the top of the nearest boulder, a long, sharp rock in her hand, and jumped onto the creature's back. Its skin was cold and clammy where she touched it with her bare skin, and it stung just as the tentacles had. It howled in annoyance as it felt her run down its spine and towards its head, which distracted it long enough for Ty Lee to yank the still gasping Mai out of danger.

_Even if I don't have my bending_ , she thought as she jumped over the thing's grasping hands, _I'm still a bender. It's a part of my spirit. It's who I am. And I'm still stronger than you._

The creature hissed as if it could read her thoughts and was reacting to them. Which, Katara concluded, it probably could. She jumped the gap between the back of its head and the rest of its body. Just as she landed, Mai threw more knives into it and it made a high pitched wailing noise that caused everyone to clap their hands to their ears. A short distance away, a flock of birdlike animals scattered into panicked flight, sending up swirls of mist with their huge wings. Katara bit her lip in concentration, raised her arms over her head, and brought the stone, point down, on the back of the creature's neck.

It sank into the creature's flesh and was swallowed. Katara pulled her hands free with a sickening squelch. Spurts of tarlike blood began to squirt out of the wound, covering her arms so that she looked like she'd just fallen face-first into a vat of ink. She must have hit a main artery for there to be so much blood, she thought, wincing as the creature's screams tore the air to pieces. It began to thrash. She slid off it. It was like falling down a very slimy mountain.

The blood on her arms was hot and slick and was beginning to itch, but she didn't have time to wash it off unless she wanted to be crushed by writhing segments. As soon as she hit the ground she began to run.

"Suki!" she shouted. "Suki! Run! I think I killed it!"

There was an answering yell from behind a boulder and Suki limped away as quickly as she could, holding her ribs as she ran. Ty Lee, with Mai's arm over her shoulders, followed.

Katara grabbed Suki and and dove into the trees just as the thing fell onto its side with a whump that sent a shower of rocks down the mountainside and at their retreating backs. Katara swore she felt the ground shake. The monster twitched a few times and then went still.

"Is everyone okay?" Katara shouted.

"Please don't yell," gasped Suki.

Her face was white with pain or fear, Katara couldn't tell, but she was alive. Katara leaned against a tree trunk and caught her breath.

"I'll heal you the second we get back," she promised, looking at Suki. "And if it doesn't work, I'll stand over Guru Pathik's shoulder until he makes you some of that disgusting tea and then I'll heal you."

Suki groaned. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

"What _was_ that thingy?" asked Ty Lee.

"Who cares what it was?" said Mai. There was a streak of dirt on her face that she was trying to rub away with jerky, irritated movements. "It almost killed me. We killed it. It was disgusting. End of story."

Katara slid her hands down her arms, flinging the now stinging blood onto the ground and against the trunks of nearby trees, where it stood out like coal dust. It left a thin, grimy trail on her skin. It was slightly pink where it had touched her.

"We got lucky," she said.

"You were amazing, Katara!" said Ty Lee. She emphasized every word with another hand gesture. "You were like whoosh then ha! then whabam!"

Katara wondered for the fiftieth time why Ty Lee and her brother never managed to end up together.

"Did anyone see Aang get out of there?" she asked.

"Sorry," said Mai, "But we were busy trying not to get eaten."

Ty Lee shook her head. "I didn't see him at all. You don't think he lost his game, do you?"

"I hope he hasn't- what?" said Katara.

"You know, a game. In all the stories, when the hero has to go make a deal with a Spirit they play Pai Sho or Kyoshi Hold-Em or something and if the hero wins he gets what he wants, but if he loses, the Spirit gets his _soul_. It's totally intense and creepy and stuff."

"What would a Spirit want with someone's soul?" asked Suki.

Ty Lee shrugged. "Maybe it's a metaphor?"

"I'm going to check on him," said Katara, staring past the trees and over the monster's corpse at the top of Koh's tree. She wished it had fallen down the canyon so she could have a clear view.

"Even if he specifically told you not to follow him?" asked Mai.

Katara folded her arms across her chest. "It's been more than ten minutes. That was the stipulation, so he can't get mad at me for breaking any rules. You can stay here if you want to, but I'm going."

She started marching towards the pillars of rock. To her surprise, Mai caught up with her, Ty Lee having apparently elected to stay with the injured Suki.

"You don't expect us to shove that thing's body out of the way, do you?" she grumbled. "Because I refuse to touch it after it nearly ate my face."

"Are you coming with me?"

Mai raised an eyebrow. "Do you want to go alone?"

Katara shook her head and shielded her eyes from the sun as she looked for a good way to get to Koh's lair. "Not really."

"Good. Let me do the talking. You're terrible at controlling your emotions."

Katara tossed her hair. "At least I have them."

"Ouch, my feelings."

They reached the edge of the canyon, the creature's still, slimy body looming behind them. Mai pointedly stood as far away from it as possible. Katara thought she had a point. While it was unlikely that the thing had survived her killing blow, she wouldn't put it past anything in the Spirit World to have more than one life.

An awful, familiar stench wafted across the foggy ravine. Katara wrinkled her nose and frowned. Where had she smelled that before? For some reason she saw incense smoke and red curtains. The wind changed, and a clicking, chitinous noise followed it, accented by the deep creaking of wood. Hollow bones on hollow stone...

She could hear Zuko's long, shallow breathing. She could hear the Fire Sages murmuring, feel Iroh's hand on her shoulder, see the lines on Mai's face she thought no one else could see. It was smoky and stifling, and she was holding Zuko's unresponsive hand and promising that she'd find a way to save him.

"It's Koh," she said. "Koh has Zuko."

They winked out of existence.

* * *

She was flat on her back on the temple floor, in the shadow of the monkey statue. She looked around to see Ty Lee, Mai, and Suki sitting around her and blinking slowly in the dim evening light. Aang was still upright with his eyes closed and his arrow's glowing. Guru Pathik lifted his hand from her shoulder.

"What is it?" she asked, feeling like she had just crawled out from under a pile of wet snow. "Are we being attacked?"

Pathik smiled. "Your brother has returned."

She rolled over and sprang to her feet, everything else forgotten. She could hear Sokka coughing outside. She ran towards the sound, dashing out the door and across the rock to the edge of the pool where Sokka was crouched, coughing up water as Toph rubbed his back.

"Sokka!" she yelled, not stopping for an answer.

She skidded to a halt next to him and pulled him into a hug, which he weakly returned. He was soaked. She cursed under her breath and bent them both dry.

"Are you okay?" she demanded. "Do you hurt anywhere?"

"Just pulled him out of the water," said Toph. "Felt him come up like a cork. Looks like you dorks came through."

"C-c-c-cold," said Sokka through chattering teeth.

"I'm sorry," said Katara, rubbing her brother's back vigorously. "I wish Aang was awake to firebend you."

"Hey, Fan-Girl," said Toph as Suki approached. "Your posture's messed up."

"I broke a rib."

Toph sucked in air through her teeth. "Ouch."

"That about covers it."

With only the barest display of pain, Suki shrugged off her outer tunic, removed her deep green inner cloak, and threw it over Sokka's shoulders. He sneezed and cuddled as deeply into it as he could.

"Th-thanks S-s-suki. Y-you're th-the b-b-best e-ever."

"Did they hurt you?" demanded Katara. "I'll kill them if they did."

"They're already dead," Suki said.

Katara threw up her hands. "Then I'll kill them again."

Sokka slowly shook his head and sneezed again. "G-ghosts. Th-th-they t-talked to me-e. T-told me I-I owed them or s-someth-thing. L-let me g-g-go f-for n-no r-rea-s-son. A-anyone have s-some f-fire flakes?"

Toph pressed a packet into his hand. He looked at her with an expression of blissful thanks that was thoroughly wasted, tore the package open, and began shoving them into his mouth by the handful.

"That'll help him get warm," said Toph, slapping him on the back. "It's a good thing I stayed. Got attacked by a couple of animals and creepy-ghosty things while you guys were gone. Nothing I couldn't handle, though. Guru Bananas over there says we should get a move on soon unless we want to be cursed by the darkness or something. Where's Twinkles?"

"He's still in the cave," said Katara, absorbed in checking Sokka's vital signs. "He didn't wake up with the rest of us."

"Right. Big Top!"

Ty Lee, who had just arrived at the edge of the pool arm-in-arm with Mai, pointed to herself.

"Me?"

Toph jerked her head in the wrong direction. "You. Go get the Guru to wake up Twinkletoes and then drag him out. We need to get out of here before the sun sets.

"Sure," said Ty Lee. She squeezed Mai's arm. "Be back in a minute."

Toph crouched next to Katara as Ty Lee did a series of backwards handsprings in the direction of the temple. "Find any clues?"

"We found better than clues," Katara said. "I think I know where Zuko is."

"Oh yeah?" said Toph. If she was impressed, she wasn't showing it. "What're the details?"

Suki leaned forward to hear. Even Sokka looked up from his food. Katara felt the cold of the forest on her back and under her knees where she crouched. Beside her, the dark pool that had swept Sokka away sat still as glass in the deepening dusk. She didn't trust it.

She wet her lips. "Well... um, maybe we should talk about it later, when everyone can hear."

"Let's get back to the temple, then," said Mai. "I'm starving."

"Whatever," said Toph. She touched the ground and her eyebrows quirked as she felt something no one else did. "Be back. I'm gonna see what's taking the new age circus so long. Don't go anywhere."

Toph trudged off, taking care to bang into Mai as she went. Katara wasn't sure if this was a gesture of affection of enmity. At least Mai didn't react further than rolling her eyes and sighing.

Katara offered a hand to Sokka. "Think you can make it back okay?" she asked as she hauled him to his feet.

He nodded, still shivering slightly. Apparently the fire flakes had helped, or at least Sokka thought they did, which was the same thing in Katara's opinion.

"Snoozles! Fan-Girl! Needles! Sugarcakes! Get in here!" yelled Toph from the temple door. "We've got a problem!"

Sokka pinched the bridge of his nose, but began walking. "Wh-why is there always a p-problem?"

"Aang's Law," murmured Katara.

Sokka snorted, and his teeth chattered a few times. "T-toph t-told me about that."

They filed into the temple, one by one. It took Katara's eyes a few seconds to readjust to the even dimmer light. Ty Lee was crouching next to Aang, holding one of her hands in his. Guru Pathik stood with his hands on both Aang's shoulders. His eyes were closed and his head was bowed. Aang's arrows, Katara noticed, were dark.

"It's Aang," said Toph. Her mouth was set in a tight line. "He's not waking up."

* * *

There was little they could do for him with the night on their heels. Toph bent a slab of rock onto which they laid Aang's still body. Pathik assured them that Aang was almost certainly still in the Spirit World, and that he had simply gone to a place beyond his retrieving reach. The only thing they could do for him was protect his body until he returned.

At Pathik's suggestion, Katara emptied and refilled her waterskins with water from the pool at the forest temple. His explanation of the water's curious healing properties overcame her trepidation about putting trust in something that had almost taken her brother from her. She was able to partially heal the cut on Aang's face and Suki's cracked (not broken, to her relief) rib with it, but not the burns on her arm. A partially healed rib was better than a fully broken one, though, and Suki thanked her for it, even as she held her arms up to the candlelight and looked at them as if from a distance.

It wasn't until dinner, after everyone had tended to themselves and Pathik had retired for the evening, that Katara was able to tell everyone what she suspected about Koh. The news went down about as well as she expected.

"There's no way," said Sokka, pointing his chopsticks at her. Bruiser and Appa sat curled together behind him. "Think about it. What would an old, amoral, smelly spirit with a creepy fixation on faces want with the Fire Lord? Spirits don't care about politics. If they did, we'd have a lot less wars. Or a lot more wars." He paused. "We'd at least have had some kind of divine intervention during the Hundred Year War. Probably."

"I'd stick to science, Snoozles," said Toph. She tore off a chunk of meat with her teeth and spat it into her hand. "Leave the philosophy to monks."

"It's him," said Katara. "Koh has to be the old Spirit that grumpy monkey told me and Aang about yesterday. It adds up." She held up her hand and began to count off. "I heard the tree and the bone noise in Zuko's room. The smell is definitely the same. And it explains why the monkey was so reluctant to say anything to us. He was afraid of the consequences."

"It doesn't explain how he couldn't keep you from dreaming your way into the Spirit World, though," countered Sokka. "If he's powerful enough to keep Aang from summoning Roku to guide him, he has to be powerful enough to stop at least that."

"Maybe his powers are limited," suggested Ty Lee. "Maybe he can only do so much before he messes with the balance so he has to be careful about the things he directly influences. There's always a give and take to every action a person performs in the Spirit World."

Everyone turned to her in various states of surprise. Suki actually dropped the fan she'd been opening and closing again all through dinner.

"Oh wow!" she said bringing her hands to her mouth in delight. "All your auras changed color at the same time! That was totally neat!"

"Ty Lee knows a lot about spiritual crap," said Mai to Katara's unasked question. "She learned it from her chi blocking sifu."

"Ew, Mai! It's not crap. It's like, completely important in living a full and balanced life. You should read some of my scrolls on negativity or your aura's going to be all drab and gray with that red overlay forever."

"I'd rather kill myself."

"Need help?" asked Toph, cracking her knuckles.

"Not from you," said Mai.

"So Koh's not all-powerful," said Sokka. "If it _is_ Koh."

"It's Koh," said Katara. She glared at Sokka.

" _If_ it's Koh," continued Sokka, glaring back. "He's either sloppy, or he's setting up a trap."

"A trap for what?" asked Suki.

"That's the question, isn't it?" Sokka concluded in a superior tone.

"Even if it's a trap, we're still going in there," declared Katara. "We're still saving him. I don't care what it takes, I don't care if we have to outwit ten Koh's, we are not going to sit here and debate intentions while Zuko's stuck there, possibly _dying_. And when Aang gets back, I'm sure he'll agree with me."

"I'm with Katara," said Toph. "Don't be a wuss, Sokka."

"Hey," said Sokka, holding up his hands. "I didn't say we weren't going to rescue him. I'm just saying we should come up with a plan first. Suki, back me up."

Suki snapped her fan closed and set it down. Then, she rolled up her sleeves, held up one of her arms and pointed to the dark marks there. "This is what I got for jumping in without thinking. Whatever Koh does to us if we mess up will be a hundred times worse."

"So we don't face him," said Toph. "We sneak in. We need to..."

Suki, Toph, and Sokka fell into an argument about strategies for approaching Koh. Katara fought the urge to pound her head against the concrete until she went unconscious. She knew that they were mainly working off tension by arguing. None of them were keen on facing something that even Aang had been hesitant to confront. She wasn't either, but so what? If it were any of them in that situation, Zuko wouldn't hesitate to do whatever it took to save them. And she didn't need to lower herself to petty arguing to face that.

Well, if they wanted to argue all night, she wasn't going to stop them. She stood and stalked away, ignoring Ty Lee's inquisitive stare. She would go check on Aang, that's what she'd do. Then maybe she'd practice her bending if he wasn't awake yet. She'd had so little opportunity to use it these past few days that she was sure she was getting rusty. Her students would take it out of her hide when the Spring term started if she let that happen. She opened the door to Aang's room. How long did it take to lead a bunch of ghosts to the Wheel of Whatever, anyway?

Someone started screaming when she stepped over the threshold. It was a terrible, skin-freezing sound, so loud she couldn't focus on the room or anything in it. She covered her ears with her hands but the screaming only got louder. It took Sokka appearing in the room, shaking her by the shoulders and yelling at her to stop for her to figure out the sound had been coming from her.

Aang had no face.


	8. Teeth

"How's he breathing?" asked Sokka.

Katara looked up incredulously from the side of the bed, where she sat holding one of Aang's hands. Pathik lightly ran his fingers over the smooth expanse of skin where Aang's face used to be, tracing symbols that Katara couldn't follow well enough to read.

"How's he-" she squeaked.

"Who cares?" said Mai. "He's still doing it. He's not dead."

Ty Lee, her eyes red from crying, nodded.

"Please don't jinx it, Sokka," she said, her voice raw.

Sokka grumbled something about people's lack of scientific curiosity to himself and crouched closer to Aang's face. Katara shot Sokka a venomous look, gave Aang's hand a squeeze and walked to the corner where Toph stood.

Toph's arms were folded across her chest and her hair hung over her eyes. Her lips were curved in a small frown. She hadn't said anything since she first walked into the room. Katara laid a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Hey," she said.

No response. Katara bit her lip and tightened her fingers. She hated the way her voice went high and breezy when she spoke.

"Aang'll be fine. We'll figure this out."

"Liar," said Toph.

The door creaked open and Suki entered the room. She had a full bag of fruit in one hand and carried a handful of lettuce in the other. She set them down and turned to them, her mouth grim.

"It's bad. Appa won't eat anything and he won't budge. We're going to have to climb down the mountain."

Mai put her hand on Ty Lee's shoulder as even her braid seemed to droop. Toph made a sound like 'tch' walked to the opposite side of the room, leaving Katara standing in the darkened corner by herself.

She clenched her fists. No. This was just a minor setback. She wasn't going to let this stop them.

"So we go down the mountain," said Katara. "Sokka, Ty Lee, go get the lanterns. If Toph can make us an earth platform we can ride it down just as fast and we'll be back in the Spirit World in no time."

"No time," repeated Pathik. He bent over Aang's prone body, a deep line between his eyes. "That, unfortunately, is the key phrase. His breathing is slowing. Soon it will stop, and he will die."

It was like the room dropped, leaving Katara's insides behind it. She stumbled and her back hit the stone wall. Countless vines of ice began to grow upward through her body. _No_ , she thought. _This is just a setback. We can beat this_. Another voice, the one that sounded like Hama, whispered, _But why try? You'll only fail. Fail like you failed Zuko, Aang, your mother... Your fault, all your fault_. The wall she leaned on was wet with evening dew. It seeped through her clothes to her back. _Incompetent. Arrogant. Foolish. Failure._

"How soon is soon, though?" asked Sokka, as if from very far away.

She brought her hands to her face. If only she hadn't made Enma mad. If only she had insisted on going with Aang. If only she hadn't let him convince her that his way of confronting Koh would put the least amount of people at risk. He was her responsibility. Hers. This was her fault.

Through the slits between her fingers, Katara saw Toph run her fingers along the top of Aang's exposed foot.

She heard Pathik. "It is difficult to say. Perhaps in an hour. Perhaps until morning. But sometime in between, I think."

"His aura's all wrapped up around him," said Ty Lee, her hands clasped under her chin. "He's trying so hard to fight..."

She wished she could go to sleep. Maybe once she was there she could find Koh herself. Do something. Convince him to let Aang and Zuko go, to take her in their place. There was a phantom weight in her pocket where the bone the traveler from her dream had given her so many nights ago. She put one hand in her pocket to look for it, but it wasn't there, as she expected. She wished he'd been more clear about what he wanted from her. What had he said?

_Hollow bones on hollow wood._

She shook her head, trying to remember. Hollow wood. Koh's tree, maybe. Hollow bones. She didn't know what he meant. The bone he'd given her? The bones he was using to divine? She tried to remember what she'd heard at the canyon, standing a stone's throw away from Koh's lair. It was the same thing she heard in Zuko's room, the clinking of hollow bones. A bone that was sometimes there and sometimes not.

_It's from dreams._

Her hands slid from her face.

"Guru Pathik, sir," she said. "Can I talk to you outside?"

The old man looked at Aang, whose chest was still rising and falling in the bright lantern-light. He looked back at her, and his entire body seemed to relax, save his mouth, which tensed like a bowstring. He looked her in the eyes when he spoke.

"Yes. I would like to speak with you as well."

She turned to Suki. "Come get me if-" She squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them again. "Get me if anything changes. Okay?"

Suki gave Katara a small smile and nodded, then went back to staring uncomfortably at Aang's blank face.

Katara followed Pathik into the hall. He led her a few doors down, to a room hung with dried bunches of herbs that he probably collected from the mountain himself. He pulled a leaf off one of the bunches, sniffed it, then crumbled it between his fingers. She waited for a moment for him to speak, but he moved on to the next one and did the same thing. She could feel Aang's time ebbing with every heartbeat. When Pathik reached for a third herb, Katara's words rolled from her like the snow that starts an avalanche.

"I've been thinking. If we don't have time to climb down the mountain to get to the Spirit World the way we've been doing it before, then we have to come up with some other way to get in. The thing is, I get in all the time. So, what if we could use _me_ was the way in? What if when I go to sleep and end up in the Spirit World, somehow I bring Sokka and Toph and everyone with me? Maybe the fact that I can get there whenever I fall asleep means that there's something going on _here_ that's bringing me _there-_ "

"Miss Katara," said Pathik.

"Sorry," she said, barely registering his use of her real name, "Sorry, you wanted to talk to me about something too?"

He leveled a steady gaze at her. "I did not want to discuss this subject with the others in the room. It would be a cruel thing to raise their hopes without reason. But yes. I believe it can be done."

"Yes!" She punched the air and threw her arms around Pathik. His body was like a bundle of sticks. "Because if I'm asleep I think I'll have the thing that spirit guy gave me and... I..."

Pathik did not return her enthusiastic hug. After a moment, Katara awkwardly withdrew.

"Guru Pathik?"

"There is a price," he said. "Please listen."

He told her.

She agreed.

* * *

When Pathik couldn't find any among his stores, Katara volunteered the rest of her sleeping herbs. The Guru brewed concentrated doses of the stuff for everyone in about a quarter of a candle mark, and Katara was able to cool each cup off so that no one would burn their lips. The floor around Aang's cot had turned into a slumber party of sorts, with skins and bedrolls and pillows strewn everywhere, his unsettling body in the center. Pathik spoke as he passed out the tea.

"Keep in mind that though pulling others into the Spirit World through dreams has been done before, I have never witnessed it, nor do I have any other reference than what has been described in scrolls."

"It's just a theory, got it," said Toph, accepting her dose.

Sokka bristled. "That's not a theory, that's a hypothesis. A theory is something that's been established through long-term experimentation and obs-"

"Yeah, yeah, no one cares. So. What're the chances that this'll work?"

"If the Avatar can serve as a signpost, if Miss Katara's connection to the Spirit World has not been severed, and if you do not break contact with one another during your sleep, it will, as you say, work."

Sokka looked warily at the cup in his hand. "That's way too many 'if's.' I don't like that many 'if's.'"

"This is so disgusting," said Mai. She held her cup away from her as if it were a diseased elephant-rat. "Do we really have to drink blood tea?"

"You do if you want this to work," said Katara as she healed the cut on the palm of her hand from which Pathik had squeezed seven drops of her blood. The water glowed where it touched, then fell away like raindrops. "I don't like it either, but this is our last option. If we don't try it, Aang will die."

"Suck it up," said Suki. "If we lose the Avatar's influence this soon after the war we'll all be throwing rocks and fire blasts at each other next week."

"Plus, Aang's too cute for us to let him die," said Ty Lee. Pathik placed a cup in her outstretched hand. "Thanks, Mr. Guru!"

"Cute?" said Sokka, raising one skeptical eyebrow. "The guy's so... skinny."

"Well sure! That's part of his appeal. Not too tall, not too short, sensitive and graceful and lean without being _too_ thin, funny, a good dancer, sweet..." She tapped her chin, looking thoughtful. "If I wasn't taken, I'd totally hit that."

Sokka clenched and unclenched one fist. Katara saw him mouth the word, 'hit?'

"You know," said Suki, her tone thoughtful, though she was definitely smirking. "Every time he visits us at Kyoshi his fanclub has more and more members. Koko had to rent out a clubhouse."

"See what I mean? He's a catch."

Mai delicately balanced her teacup on her fingertips. "Wow, thanks, Ty Lee. You came up with a subject more nauseating than this tea. I'm officially ready to drink this."

"Good, because it's time to," said Katara. "On three, everyone. One, two..."

She tilted her head back and let the hot liquid slide down her throat. It was thick and bitter and coated her mouth. She had to lick her blanket to get the taste off her tongue.

"Three!" said Ty Lee, and she and Sokka downed their drinks.

Pathik quickly collected the teacups. "Wait here. It will not be long before you begin to fall asleep. Lie down, please, and take the hand of your neighbor. I will begin the binding."

As everyone got comfortable on the improvised bedding, he pulled a tightly wound cord of red string from the folds of his robe. He started with Suki, gently looping string around her pinkie before tying it off and moving on to her other hand. He worked quickly, linking pinky to pinky, and soon he had bound Suki to Sokka and Sokka to Toph without breaking the string.

"Those fanclub girls are a bunch of delicate idiots," grumbled Toph, as Pathik tied her hand to Aang's. "One of them tried to start a rumble with me and wouldn't man up when I called her out on it."

"You threw a _boulder_ at her _house_ ," said Suki, as Pathik tied the smallest finger of Aang's hand to Katara's.

"She threw _rocks_ at my _face_ ," countered Toph. She twitched her arms like she was going to fold them across her chest, but remembered the string at the last second. "Shoulda known better than to screw with a champion."

Katara held still while her other hand was linked to Mai's. It was strange, ending up in this position. She didn't feel as apprehensive about Mai as she once did, but there was still that final, feather-thin barrier between them that tasted like palm wine. Katara rolled her freshly tied string between her fingers. She hoped it would be enough.

"We had to get five earthbenders from the mainland to fix it after you left. Her family fled the island. Not left. Fled."

Sokka laughed, then promptly shut up at Suki's reproachful glare.

The satisfaction in Toph's voice was practically obscene. "Excellent."

Pathik secured the thread around Ty Lee's hand, then stretched the excess to the extent of his body, cut it, and tied its end to the string attached to Suki's hand. Everyone was now linked to one another in a circle of red string.

"You are anchored to one another now," he said, "As the Avatar is anchored to the Face Stealer and the Face Stealer is anchored to the Fire Lord. When you wake in the Spirit World, you will be very close to all of them. Unless I miss my guess and you end up on _top_ of them. Well. Let us hope for option one!"

Sokka groaned and slid his hand down his face. "Since Aang's not technically here, does Aang's Law still count?"

"Sokka!" said Ty Lee. "You weren't supposed to jinx it!"

"Seriously, was I the last person to hear about this?"said Katara.

"Yes," said everyone else, including Guru Pathik.

"I feel weird," announced Toph. "Room's moving."

"I wish you could see because everything's going all blurry," said Ty Lee.

"I don't. This is bad enough without having another sense."

"But this is good, right?" said Sokka with a monstrous yawn. "Mean's it's working."

"M'gonna smack him when we get'm back," murmured Toph. "Stupid to go alone."

The edges of Katara's vision were out of focus, as if she'd gotten water in her eyes. She tried to rub them dry. When her hands came away things were blurrier still.

"Remember," she said. "We have to save both of them. Koh'll never let us near him again."

"You will be asleep soon," said Guru Pathik. He was underwater. She could hardly make out what he was saying from under the surface. "If you are successful, you will save two lives tonight."

"Save 'em both..." Toph's deep breathing overtook her words.

"I will be here when you wake."

* * *

Stagnant air was the first thing she registered. It wasn't hot or wet like the other times she'd woken up in the Spirit World. It was lukewarm. Dry. Unmoving. It sat like a layer of dust on her skin. Achingly slowly, her miasma-filled eyes unblurred, and she saw that she was standing on an expanse of gnarled wood in front of a row of bone-shaped rocks that led to a jagged canyon wall. A skeletal sun-crowned tree stood above her, impossibly huge. She saw a giant, nine-headed snake regard her for a moment before tasting the air with one of its heads and slithering up the tree.

She reached into her pocket. Her hand touched smooth bone.

"This place never changes, does it?"

Mai appeared beside her. Katara was surprised. She hadn't expected Mai to be the first one there. Then again, Mai was probably the only one who had as much stake in saving Zuko and Aang as she did. Just in a different way.

"Looks different to me," said Toph. She took a step than stopped and pressed the ball of her hand to her forehead, wincing. "Oh. Wow. I can't see _anything_."

Katara wondered how Toph saw the world. Was it in shapes? Outlines of things? Did she see the peaks of a mountain when she slid down it?

"Aren't you used to that by now?" said Mai.

"Can it, Sunshine. Ponytail. Gimme your arm."

"Wolf-tail," said Sokka, automatically sticking out his arm. "So. This is Koh's realm. It's..." He spread his fingers at the canyon. "Festive. Cheerful. Guy must have a lot of parties."

Katara's hand closed on the bone in her pocket. Sokka really did look so much like their father. They definitely shared a sense of humor. His eyes were wide and intelligent, though, like their mother's, and he was leaner, probably because he didn't spend most of his time hunting. Every inch the warrior-scholar. She gripped the bone tighter.

"I thought it'd be bigger," said Suki.

And Suki. A warrior to her core. Katara thought that if she and Sokka ever had kids, he'd be the one stuck at home raising them while Suki put her Kyoshi girls through their paces. She hoped she'd get to meet them, one day. She hoped she and Suki would get to tease Sokka about his cooking together.

"I hate this place," said Ty Lee. "The energy is all blocked up and murky and gross. Can't you feel the way it sits on your skin?" She ran her hands up and down her arms and shuddered. "It's like lamp oil."

Did Ty Lee actually feel all the things she talked about feeling? Auras and energies and chakras sounded a little far fetched to Katara. Maybe Ty Lee would have explained it to her, if she'd asked. Maybe she would have had something to say about love that Katara could have understood.

Mai touched her friend's shoulder. "It'll be over soon."

Katara let go of the bone in her pocket. She turned to her friends.

"Okay," she said. "Last time we were here, we were attacked by something that came out of the mist, so keep watch. I'm going to face Koh. I want all of you to stay here and watch the entrance."

"Oh, hell no," said Toph. "I didn't come here for the scenery. I'm coming with you."

"Toph, you know what happened to Aang, you can't possibly think-"

Toph held out her hand like she was halting a cart in the street. "I know what happened to Aang. I'm not going to let it happen to you. Besides, who better to talk to someone who steals your face if you flinch than a blind person? I can't even see what I'm supposed to be reacting to. _Literally._ "

"I'm coming, too," said Mai. "And don't argue. I'm better at it than you."

"We should all go," said Ty Lee. "Bad stuff happens every time groups separate. It's in all the scrolls!"

"No," said Suki. "It doesn't make sense for us all to go. Some of us have to stay behind and guard their backs. Right, Sokka?"

Sokka drew his sword and let it hang loosely at his side. "Right."

Katara felt her shoulders go slack. "Sokka..."

"Go," he said. He put his hand on her shoulder. "Just come back, okay? Don't make me regret letting you do it."

Her mouth twitched. "You've never _let_ me do anything in my life."

"Let me dream, okay?"

"I..." her mouth went dry. She swallowed, and was horrified to feel her eyes filling with tears. She would _not_ cry. "Okay. I'll see you soon."

"I'll watch your back."

She hugged him so hard that she squeezed the breath out of him and he made a funny sound, which completely wrecked the mood. She didn't care, though. It reminded her of everything she loved about him, and made her laugh when she wanted to cry.

"You always have."

* * *

The smell was brutal, like week old meat left to rot in the sun: sweet and nauseating. Katara had to bite her tongue to keep from gagging. She felt Toph do the same thing, and then felt a stab of pity when she realized how much more horrible it had to be for her. Toph relied on her sense of touch more than any other one, but Katara knew that her nose was nearly as sharp as her hearing. Katara rubbed her back and Toph leaned into it, for once accepting help when it was offered.

There wasn't much to see in the cave at the bottom of the stairs. A single, dark stalactite dominated the center of the ceiling, and the cave itself was riddled with nooks that led both into darkness and bright day. Shafts of sunlight shone down through holes in the roof. By that light Katara could see roots of the tree had broken in on all sides of the cavern.

As her eyes adjusted, she also discovered that the stalactite was unnaturally lumpy. She held out her arm to stop Mai from walking under it.

"Don't," she said, unable to keep the fear out of her voice.

"Welcome, dreamer," said the stalactite. "To what do I owe the honor?"

It moved. Koh lazily uncoiled himself from the small protrusion, leaving his back half attached to it. A white mask with high black dots for eyes and bright red lips sat in the center of his head, where his face would be. He smiled and Katara wanted to run.

_I'm a glacier. I'm the tundra. He's a snowflake at my fingertips. He's salt and I'm the sea. I can do this._

She held her breath.

"Hello, Koh," she said.

He chuckled. "Such nonchalance. And here I assumed you would be more expressive with your greeting." He tilted his upper segments as if keying in on a sound in the wind. "Perhaps your companions will demonstrate more loquacity."

Mai bowed, but didn't say anything. Koh considered her for a moment, then lowered and raised his front half as if in imitation of her.

"Bite me," said Toph.

"Tsk. Manners."

Koh's face changed into that of a baboon's, with sagging jowls and yellow eyes, and he launched himself at Toph quick as a mongoose-dragon. He stopped an inch from her nose. Drool spattered all over her cheeks. Dirty brown fangs glistened in the dim light.

 _Don't flinch,_ thought Katara. _Please don't flinch, please don't flinch, please..._

Toph calmly wiped the spit from her face. Katara didn't know how she did it without even the shadow of a grimace. If possible, the smell of Koh's saliva was worse than the smell of his body.

"Hm," said Koh. He drew back. His face changed again, and this time an old man with a large nose regarded them as he spoke. "Perhaps I was too hasty. Why have you come?"

He detached himself from the stalactite and began to crawl the wall of the cavern.

"To get our friends back," said Toph.

"Friends?" He hung upside down from the ceiling and faced them. "I believe I have only one friend of yours in my collection."

Aang's open, cheerful face bloomed onto Koh's, and Katara nearly lost control. How dare he use that face in front of her? How dare he? Her fingers automatically curled into the talons she seldom used, the stance she used for bloodbending.

Mai's hand closed around hers. Katara stiffened, then forced her hands to lie flat at her sides.

"So Zuko's not in your collection, but you've still got him," said Toph. "Good to know."

He raised one of Aang's eyebrows. The half-healed cut was still on his face. "Clever of you." He crawled towards her. "I like cleverness in my visitors. It keeps things interesting."

"Please, let them go," asked Katara. "Aang's dying, and you don't have any reason to keep Zuko."

"My reasons are private and varied, dreamer. I do not think I will do either." He lifted one of his multi-segmented legs and held it in front of his face, examining it as if it were his fingernails. "You know nothing of motivation, or of bargaining. A pity. Leave. If you are not here to relinquish your faces, and you have no questions for me, we can do no business."

Mai cocked her head. "You mentioned a bargain."

"The marionette speaks." Long, dark hair spilled out of Aang's mouth and the face of a Water Tribe woman with light brown eyes surfaced from it until it eclipsed Aang's. "Bargains. Bets. What better ways are there to pass the time? I find them far more intellectually stimulating than the repeated application of unwelcome brute force. Do you not agree?"

"They're interesting," said Mai.

"Ha! Yes. Very interesting. My latest bargain was especially interesting. The face of the Avatar for the soul of the Fire Lord. I believe I came out the victor in the end."

Katara clenched her teeth to keep from baring her teeth and snarling like a wolf. She wanted to uncork her waterskin, she wanted to freeze him in ice and scream at him until he named his ally and gave her back the people she loved. Her temples throbbed, and sweat began to slide down her face. They had to get out of there. She was minutes away from throwing up from anger and disgust.

_I'm a glacier, I'm the tundra, I'm... He's..._

"Mine's better," said Mai.

Koh smiled. "Is it, now?"

"Yes," said Mai. "It is." She tucked her hands into her sleeves. "If we can guess which is your real face, you give the Avatar his face back and release the Fire Lord. If we lose, we'll leave and never return. You'll get to keep the Avatar's face."

The first of Koh's faces surfaced, and his red lips curled upward. He looked like a wolf with a stolen log of seal jerky. "How did you know what my favorite game was?"

"So you agree?"

He dropped down from the ceiling and spun around in midair, landing on his belly and sending a putrid tuft of air at them. Katara's eyes watered.

"Unfortunately, though I am his jailor, the Fire Lord's Spirit is not mine to barter. So no, child, I cannot accept your bargain as it is."

"Why not?" asked Toph.

Koh slithered behind them, and breathed on their necks as he spoke. His breath was hot as a decaying latrine.

"There are rules, little earthbender," he whispered. "We are all of us bound to them under the mandate of heaven. Even the chosen."

He ran one claw up the back of Toph's neck. She didn't move. Koh waited for a moment, then began crawling towards the center of his cave. His segments brushed against them like cold meat.

"So that's it?" said Katara. "You're not even going to think about it?"

"Do try not to make premature conclusions, dreamer. It can be detrimental to one's well being."

He turned to face them, and his face was that of an owl's. Katara bit her tongue to keep from yelling in surprise. Koh screeched once, then slipped back into his white face, his lips molded into that already familiar smile.

"I would be pleased to wager the Avatar in our game. His face is somewhat damaged. So let us raise the stakes. If you do not guess correctly, I will give back the Avatar's face, and you will all give me your faces in return."

The bone in Katara's pocket burned like ice against her thigh. "And if _we_ win, you give up _all_ your faces, not just Aang's."

Koh laughed. It was a surprisingly high sound, like nails on slate. "Delightful. We have a bargain." He clicked as he crawled to them. "You get one guess. Return in an hour, alone."

"Which one of us?" asked Toph.

"It doesn't matter," said Koh with a wave of his claw. "Go."

"Thank you for your time," said Mai, bowing low.

Toph turned her back on him without a word. After a moment of intense internal debate, Katara settled for a curt nod. Koh smiled at her and disappeared up one of the many holes in the roof.

"I am looking forward to adding your faces to my collection," he said as he vanished. "It's been a very long time since I've gathered so many at once."

* * *

"So? How'd it go?" asked Sokka.

His sword arm was tense. He looked like he'd been waiting for them all day, not for less than an hour. Suki stood with her back to them, eyes trained at the bridge across the canyon, and Ty Lee immediately bounded up to Mai.

Katara tried to smile, but what came out was more like a grimace. "He says he has Zuko but he can't release him. He'll let Aang go, but we have to guess which face is his real one. Otherwise, he takes ours."

Sokka let out a string of expletives that made Ty Lee say, 'Sokka!'

"Great. You've made a deal with an eldritch horror. That always goes well. Good job. I knew I should have gone with you."

"Like you could have done better," said Katara.

He gesticulated like Momo. "I might have! You don't know!"

"Relax," said Mai. "I know the answer already. It's that white one."

"No," said Toph.

"No?"

"No," said Toph, again. She frowned. "He doesn't move like it's a part of him. He wears it like a mask."

"How can you tell?" asked Suki, briefly looking over her shoulder at them. She had one eyebrow raised. "I thought you couldn't see here."

Toph waved one hand as if swatting an invisible fly. "Funny thing, though. All my other senses are perfectly fine, and he sounded and felt like he was blind."

"Blind?" said Katara. "But that doesn't make sense. How can he be blind? He has to see to be able to see people's expressions change."

" _I_ can see expressions."

"You're an earthbender. There's no bending in the Spirit World."

Toph folded her arms across her chest. "Well I know what I felt, and he felt blind. And the 'white one,' which is a stupid descriptor, by the way, isn't his real face."

"So what? One of them has to be his real face," said Mai. "Everything has a face."

Ty Lee buried her face in Mai's shoulder. "Please don't go back there. If he agreed in the first place then he knows you can't win. I don't know if I can deal with losing you."

"Oh, come on," said Mai. "I'm here, aren't I? You're not going to lose me. There's nothing to worry about."

Ty Lee whimpered and hugged her friend tighter.

"There has to be a way for us to win," said Sokka. "There's, like, a rule somewhere. Isn't there?"

Toph shrugged. "That's what he said. Only creepier."

"Spirits have all kinds of rules," said Ty Lee. "Like, some of them can only walk in a straight line, or like, some can only eat fermented eggs and enter our world while walking backwards. They're really specific."

"Can you remember any other ones?" asked Suki.

"Yeah," said Sokka. "It's great and all that you've got this insight, but fermented eggs? Not helpful. And frankly, kind of gross."

_If you see my son, tell him I'm looking for him!_

"Spirits can't lie," whispered Katara, "But they don't always tell the truth."

Sokka cocked his head. "Could you repeat that?"

"Spirits can't lie, but they don't always tell the truth," she repeated. Her voice grew more excited as she spoke. "I met someone here a while ago. That was one of the rules he told me. Spirits can't lie, but they don't always tell the truth! I can't believe I remembered!"

She was so excited that she'd finally remembered something useful that she almost didn't catch the slow slow smile that crept across Sokka's face. He looked the same as the Mechanist when he showed off his inventions to them, or as Iroh when discussing a rousing game of Pai Sho.

"Sokka?" asked Suki. "You okay there?"

"I... that... I think..."

He pointed at several things in the air that no one could see. It seemed that he couldn't see them either, judging from the way his eyes slowly opened and closed.

Everyone was looking at him now. Even Suki had turned from her post to stare.

"He gets like this sometimes," she said, dread in her eyes. "It usually results in us having to rebuild the shed."

"I've got it!" he shouted, grinning like a madman. "Spirits don't lie, right? So when he agreed to your terms, he couldn't have lied about going through with his side of the bargain. But what if he omitted a truth? What if the right answer isn't the answer you think it is? What if it's not an answer at all?"

Katara glanced at Suki, who looked as puzzled by Sokka's excited explanation as she felt.

"I... what?"

"He agreed because he knew you couldn't guess which face was his. If you pick one, you're guaranteed to get it wrong! Do you know what that means!" His eyes glittered. " _Koh has-_ "

Whatever he'd been about to say was cut off when a rock hit him on the back of the head with the force of an arrow. Katara knelt as he doubled over, clutching the back of his head and swearing as he'd done earlier. She automatically tried to pull water from the air to heal him, but of course nothing happened.

"Didn't invite _you_ ," someone said.

They turned as one, Suki unfurling her fans faster than Katara could follow, and they saw her.

A very thin woman with ragged, long hair wearing a white kimono that tied at the shoulder threw another rock into the air and caught it. She was standing feet from them, on an exposed root as big as a dragon. The tips of her fingers were bloody where her fingernails once were. Her gold eyes glinted in the everlasting sun. Almost lazily, she rocked her body so that her head rolled from one side to another. She stared at Katara out of one half-closed eye and stretched her lips into a parody of a smile.

"Waterbender," she said, sounding delighted. "You came back!"

Katara's mouth sagged. "Azula?"

It was like opening a box and finding a bloody knife. She remembered the cackle, the blue fire (how could she miss the blue fire!), the singsong way of speaking. Azula. It was Azula, the lost Fire Princess, who could ask just the right orderly to pass a request on to the rebels who still wanted Ozai back on the throne. It was Azula who had found a way to slip into the Spirit World, who struck a deal with Koh. Hadn't Iroh said she'd been sleeping through the night for the first time since the Agni Kai? But he'd said it was the tea, there was no reason for her to suspect... she couldn't have known...

No, it was her fault, her fault, she should have paid more attention to what was happening all around her than worrying about talking to Aang. How could she be so stupid? So selfish? How could she have missed the clues? She could have written Iroh about her suspicions and he could have stopped this so much earlier, Aang would never have lost his face, they might never have had to confront Koh, they could be back in the Fire Nation sleeping instead of risking their lives here, maybe she wouldn't have bet her life and her friends' lives on this, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid...

She fell forward, cold wood under her palms, and saw Sokka clutching his head. Blood dripped from under his hands and splashed onto the dun-colored roots.

No. There wasn't time for her to feel sorry for herself. That was for later. She wiped the angry tears that had threatened to spill from her eyes and forced herself to her feet.

"You. You did this," she said in a shaking voice. "You're working with Koh."

"Koh? Who's that? Didn't you come to visit Zuzu?" Azula crooned, lightly jumping down from her root as if she were an airbender. Her eyes were unfocused. "It's so nice he's here, though he should really stop all the complaining. Perhaps mother will come to visit us both now if he's good. She always did like him best." She doubled over, lacing her fingers through her hair. "Monster, monster, disappointment-"

"Azula?" said Ty Lee. "Is it really you?"

For the first time, Azula seemed to notice that she and Katara weren't alone. Her unfocused eyes swung to Mai and Ty Lee and sharpened with the clarity of a hawk. Her bloodstained hands clenched and her entire body stiffened.

"Ty Lee. _Mai._ What are you doing here!"

Mai smiled. "I'm here to save the jerk I dumped."

It took Katara five fill seconds to process what Mai said. In those five seconds, a kind of internal explosion occurred. Zuko and Mai weren't dating? Mai wasn't going to be Fire Lady? Mai _dumped_ him? For a moment, she even forgot about Azula.

"What? But- that-" she babbled. "He never said-"

"What, you didn't know?"

"But you stayed in the palace! You didn't leave his side for a week!"

Mai raised an eyebrow. "Do you think I'm heartless enough to ignore the fact that he was dying? I did spend five years dating the guy. I wasn't going to abandon him on his deathbed."

"Shut up!" screamed Azula. She swung a branch as big and long and thick as Sokka's arms that missed them only because they leaped backwards. "Both of you, always going on about precious, wonderful Zuzu... I'm the prodigy! I'm the Fire Lord! I'm the one my father chose! I'm the one you should fear! I'm the one you should love!"

She stabbed at Mai's legs so fast that Mai didn't have time to leap out of the way. It struck her in the ankle and a horrible crunching sound told Katara that it had broken. Mai cried out and crumpled to her knees. Azula took a step forward.

Ty Lee threw herself in front of her friend, a determined look on her face, her pointed hands poised and ready to strike.

"Back off, Azula!"

She struck out with a series of quick jabs, but Azula dodged them all, laughing the entire time. She looked like a girl at a dance.

"Oh, now isn't this _precious_ ," she breathed. "Just like the Boiling Rock. I haven't decided which of you I hate most."

She swung the branch again and Ty Lee had to flip backwards to get out of the way.

"What are you after, Azula?" panted Mai. She was even paler than usual, and sweat stood out like seed pearls on her skin. "You never do anything unless it benefits you in some way."

"Four for a boy, six for gold, seven for a secret, never to be told," she sang. She struck out again with her branch. "Too scared to get close? I promise I won't bite. Though you did so like that once, didn't you, Ty Lee?"

Mai's eyes narrowed to slits and her hand went to her robes, but before she could do anything, Azula was knocked to her knees.

A grinning Toph stood behind her. She drew back her fist. "Not as sharp as you used to be, Crazy."

Azula growled, an inhuman sound. A second before it happened, Katara felt the warning rise in her chest, shouted, "Toph, watch-!" but she was too late to stop it. Azula spun around on her hands, using her legs as counterweights, and kicked Toph in the chest. Toph shuddered and went out like a lamp.

Gone.

"What did you do to her!" shouted Sokka, as he wobbled to his feet. He pointed his sword at her and prepared to charge.

"Sokka, don't get close!" Katara threw out her arm to stop him. "She'll push you back to the real world!"

" _Real_ world?" said Azula, incredulously. She spat on the ground. "Don't make me laugh. This is real. I'm real. It took me years to master this place and I will not let you tell me _it's not real._ "

The tree began to rumble. Little, dry branches came tumbling down from the upper branches like snow. It fell into Katara's hair as she struggled to keep her balance.

"What the f-" said Suki, but her inquiry died in her throat.

Creatures made of shadow, creatures lashed together with vines, creatures that scuttled like insects poured onto the island from the chasm below. Katara saw skinny corpse-eaters, bulbous feasting shadows, lithe tree-wolves, and things that she'd never encountered, things that gibbered and snapped and crawled. They parted around Azula like a river.

Suki and Sokka stood back to back, fan and sword at the ready. A tree-wolf lunged at Sokka, and he sliced through its snout.

"Go for the neck!" shouted Katara, as she dug in her pocket for the bone, but before she could grip it, Azula hit her in the stomach with her branch.

"Oof!"

A red haze blinded her as she struggled to breathe. She'd been caught unaware; she hadn't had time to prepare for the blow, so it sank into her stomach and brought her to her knees. While she was immobilized she expected Azula to leap on her, to push her off the tree and into the chasm, but when her eyes cleared, she saw that the mad Princess had been pinned to the ground by Mai's senbon. Azula wrenched the knives out of her kimono and threw them back Mai, who deflected them expertly even as she sat clutching her rapidly swelling ankle.

Katara didn't see what happened next, as her view was blocked by a fat shadow creature with long, stretched limbs and a wound-like mouth. It opened it to engulf her. This time, she grabbed the bone, which lengthened in her hand, and rammed it into the creature's side before anything else could go wrong.

It withered. Its outside, the shadow stuff, whatever it was, sagged and sucked inward and it folded in on itself like a diseased flower.

There wasn't time to be horrified, or even to celebrate. She leapt to her feet and brandished the bone like a dagger. Even though she couldn't wield her element, she was still a master bender. Her arms and legs naturally dipped into the her waterbending forms as she attacked anything stupid enough to approach her. Soon, the shadows began to keep clear of her, some crawling over the canyon wall altogether and retreating. Where was Azula?

To her right, she saw Suki take out a corpse-eater with a stylized slice of her fan, and its upper half slid into the canyon. Her brother ran up the tree trunk and vaulted backwards, landing sword-point down on a writhing mass of blackness that slid like oil between the cracks in the wood. A swarm of corpse-eaters was headed for Ty Lee, who was stabbing at the twisted shape of a person with limited success. Katara moved to help her and was cut off by a lumbering bipedal giant of a creature with four misshapen limbs and a mouth lined with mossy teeth. It looked down at her and raised one of its arms, in which it held a massive club.

Katara dove between its legs. The club came down right where she'd been standing and cut a jagged hole in the tree roots. She spun and tried to stab it in the leg with her bone, but missed as it jerked out of the way. It was surprisingly fast for such a huge thing. She cursed in frustration. If she could just scratch it with the point of the bone, it would get out of her way so she could help her friends. She leaped backwards as the thing swung again only to trip over the remains of one of the tree-wolves. The thing lifted its club. She rolled to escape, but knew that part of her would be crushed, even if she escaped with her life. She shut her eyes and prepared for the oncoming pain.

But instead of hearing the thud as the club crushed her left limbs, she heard something that sounded like an axe hitting a wet log. Then there was the scream. She rolled onto her back and looked up.

Sokka had somehow managed to get between her the creature, severing its hand from its body in the process. Viscous red blood dripped down the hilt of his sword. He turned to her, grinned, and stuck out his hand.

"You can thank me later," he said.

She grinned back and let him help her to her feet. "So I don't have to thank you now?"

Sokka laughed. Then, he pitched forward as if from the force of an explosion, and vanished.

Azula stood in his place, one palm facing out, the other wrapped around her branch.

"One for sorrow," she hissed.

Katara's vision flooded with red. She raised her arms.

"Stand down, Azula," she ordered.

"Stand down?" Azula laughed. The sound was like broken glass. "Do you like the poison I picked out for Zuzu?" Her eyes were bright and clear. "It grows on that dank rock they make me live on. They let me keep it in my room. Uncle wants me to start _cultivating it_."

She dissolved into laughter. Katara dodged another swipe of her branch, saw an opening, but hesitated. If she used her weapon on Azula, what would happen to her? Would it kill her spirit? Would she never have a chance to be reincarnated? Would she just... end? Forever?

They began to circle each other, Azula spitting as she talked.

"Luck," she muttered. "That's all it ever was. Luck. Lucky to be born, lucky the aqueducts were full, lucky, lucky, lucky... _you_ did this to me!"

"No," said Katara, her voice low. "You were already gone when we faced you, Azula. Your father did this to you, not Zuko. Not me."

Her face contorted. "Father _values_ me!"

Azula threw the branch at her. Katara quickly flowed to one knee and stuck out her other leg for balance. The branch sailed over her head.

"He did... value you," she said, once she was sure she was out of reach. "But he would have banished you, too, if he ever thought you were weak. That's not a father, Azula. Fathers don't teach their children how to hate and fear instead of love. Please, listen to me. You have to let him go. There's no shame in-"

"What do you know? You were never there, you never saw how he treated me, how he raised me, the second-born, above my worthless, bumbling excuse for a brother! He appreciated me for what I am; a _monster_! He used me because I _wanted_ to be used! You never saw how mother- how mother-" Tears began to slide down Azula's filthy cheeks. Her face was cut, twisted, she seemed to be speaking from her chest, her mouth chewing her words. "She despised me! And when she comes for her precious, _favorite_ child, _I'll feed her to Koh!_ "

Like Katara, Azula's body still remembered how to bend, even if there was no element that could respond. She lashed out with a furious series of punches that would have shot fireballs if they were in the real world. Katara reacted instinctively, bending backwards to avoid them. She let her fist envelop the bone she carried and kept it closed as she used her momentum to hurl her lower body up and kick Azula in the jaw. Azula's teeth clicked sickeningly together. She staggered. Katara fell into a crouch and sprang to the left, reaching out to grab one of her opponent's arms and pin her, disable her, anything, but as soon as she had a good grip, Azula yanked with all her might and swung Katara around like a slingshot, slamming her against a rock.

She bounced off it, the world a shower of golden light. Until that point, she didn't know that the phrase, 'to see stars,' was actually quite descriptive. Azula was coated in bright sparks of every color. Through the haze, she could see her smile.

Then she knelt, and kicked Katara in the chest.

This time, Katara was ready for it. She breathed out hard, tightened her muscles, and stretched backwards just enough that she avoided much of the force of the kick. It still hurt, but she didn't see stars. When she snapped back, ready to continue the fight, she found Azula staring at her in wild-eyed shock.

"What? Why can't I banish you? Witch!" her voice rose in pitch until she was screaming each word, spittle flying from her once perfectly reddened mouth. "I'll burn you, I'll vivisect you, I'll cut out your trachea and fu-"

Katara punched her in the face. Stunned, this princess laid one shaking hand to her cheek, lifted it again, and held it at arm's length.

Katara wished she could revel in the feeling of having landed that kind of blow on Azula. But Azula's inability to throw Katara from her dream as she'd always done didn't mean that Katara had gotten stronger. It meant that Pathik's price had been exacted. It meant that she'd never leave. She bit back the despair that threatened to climb up her throat and forced herself to keep talking.

"I won't let you. Not again, not ever." She hooked her hand into the front of Azula's kimono and pulled until they stood almost nose to nose. "Whenever you come here at night, I'll be waiting for you. I will find you, and I will end you. You will never hurt the people I love, ever, _ever_ again."

Azula's right shoulder jerked upward, then the other. Katara dropped her, and she folded like a dropped rag doll.

"Thanks, Ty Lee," she said.

The smile was absent from Ty Lee's face. "I really didn't want to have to do that again. I'm sorry, 'Zula. But you shouldn't have hurt Mai."

Azula moved her head, scraping it against the ground until she was turned fully away from Ty Lee. Frustrated tears made tracks on her dirty face and darkened the tree roots where they fell. She began to wail. Katara could smell lightning in the air and feel the aqueducts under her feet. Suki put her hand on Katara's shoulder and she was jerked back to the present.

"Everyone okay?" she asked.

Suki shook her head. Her ponytail had come undone, and she was clutching her cracked rib. "Azula got Mai. She did that pushing thing she did with Toph. Where's Sokka?"

Katara shook her head. "The same. It's just us, now."

The creatures that Azula had called to her were all but gone. A few corpse-eaters remained, picking at the bodies of the fallen. One was attempting to eat the skin of the first shadow-thing that Katara had stabbed. She looked elsewhere.

"How'd _she_ manage to get here?" asked Suki, making a rude gesture in Azula's direction. "Isn't she locked up on Coal Isle in that big house?"

"They say madmen and mystics are the only ones with easy access to the Spirit World," said Ty Lee, nervously tugging on her braid. "She's probably been coming here for years... I guess that's why she never really saw me when I came to visit. She wasn't there. Oh, Azula..."

"Mother," moaned Azula, "Mother, I took my face off, I'm not her anymore, mother please..."

"We can worry about that later," said Katara. "Right now, we still have to deal with Koh. Suki, Ty Lee, do you have any idea what Sokka was about to say?"

Both women shook their heads. Katara squeezed her eyes shut and massaged her temples, keeping hold of the small bone with one thumb.

It would be so easy to give up. So easy to just like down and wait for her hour to pass, to let Koh win and spend the rest of her existence as one of the faceless animals that wandered thorough his realm. Every time it seemed like something was going to go right, another hole got kicked in her kayak. They were already sinking. So why bother? Why keep trying if she was only going to fail? She was so tired.

_Toph calls it 'Aang's Law...'_

__

__

...you will all give me your faces in return...

_Do you know what this says...?_

No. Don't lie down. Don't falter. Don't give in. Keep trying. And never give up without a fight.

"Okay," she said. "Okay. Let me think. What did Sokka say? 'Koh has...' what?"

"A really big collection of faces?" suggested Ty Lee.

"No, we know that already. It's got to be something else." She sighed and tried not to give in to her compulsion to sink to the ground. "What did Toph say?"

"Toph?" Suki tapped her chin with a folded fan. "Let's see... she said the white one wasn't his real face, and that she thought he might be blind."

"And Sokka got really excited when you said the whole thing about Spirits and truthiness," supplied Ty Lee.

"So he wears faces like masks," said Katara, counting off on her fingers. "He can't lie, but he doesn't have to go into details or volunteer anything. He doesn't think we can guess what his real face is. And he might be blind. What's the logical conclusion?"

Ty Lee shrugged and made a sound like 'I dunno.'

Suki pointed to Katara with her fan. "It means he's hiding something."

"Hiding something..."

What was it that Sokka saw that no one else did? There had to be something there, some connecting thread that she couldn't see, like the red string binding them to each other as they slept. If she closed her eyes, she could almost see it...

_He doesn't move like it's a part of him. He wears it like a mask._

__

__

...I know what I felt, and he felt blind.

Everything has a face.

Spirits do not lie, but they do not always tell the truth.

_...what if the right answer isn't the answer you think it is? What if it's not an answer at all?_

"What if it's not an answer at all..." said Katara aloud, and a key turned.

"Oh," she said, softly.

Suki looked at her with sharp eyes. "What?"

"Come back," whimpered Azula. "I hate you, I hate you, please, come back..."

Katara glanced uneasily at Azula. Though incapacitated, a hurt polar tiger was still dangerous. She bit her lip and looked from Azula to Ty Lee.

"Not here," she said.

There was a pause. Katara tried to put everything she could into the look she was giving her former enemy, things like 'I'm sorry,' and 'Please understand,' and 'Thank you for everything you've done for us.' She hoped it was enough.

"Go on," said Ty Lee. "I'll stay with her." She crouched and put one hand on Azula's heaving shoulders.

"Suki, walk with me?" asked Katara.

"Sure. Ty Lee. Make sure she doesn't escape."

"Right," said Ty Lee, her eyes on Azula.

Suki and Katara walked towards the top of the stairs that descended to Koh's cave.

"You going to tell me what you came up with?" asked Suki.

Katara slowly shook her head. She pocketed her bone. "I'm afraid he'll overhear. I don't want to take that chance. I'm sorry."

They arrived at the entrance. Dank air sucked at Katara's ankles. She could see a light at the bottom that twinkled like a far off fire.

Suki fixed her with a level gaze. "So what did you want me to walk with you for?"

"I won't w-" she began, then stopped herself. Closing her eyes and taking a quick breath, she continued, "There's a chance that I won't wake up from this."

Suki opened and closed one of her fans. She watched it as she spoke. "This is the catch, isn't it? For what we did to get here."

Katara nodded.

Suki ran one shaky hand over her forehead. "Why didn't you tell us before we did this? We could have found another way."

"There wasn't time. Aang was dying. And Sokka would never have let me do it if I told him, you know that."

"Yeah, I do. But we still deserved to know."

Katara cringed. "I know. I'm sorry."

Suki sighed and opened her fan. "I'm sorry, too."

They stood for a few seconds, unable to look at each other. Katara felt the clammy wind that sucked down the stone steps tug at her shins. She would have to go soon.

"Would you do it again?" demanded Suki.

Katara looked up. "Yes. It's a trade, you know? If I end up stuck here but it gets them back, then I've done what I set out to do. I'm okay with that."

"A trade..." Suki snapped her fan shut. "Avatar Kyoshi wrote that it's easy to find something worth dying for, but that choosing to live is one of the hardest things a person can do. So promise me something, Katara. In the end, if it comes down to it, if you have the choice, choose to live."

"Pathik said there wasn't-"

"Because we won't stop looking for you until we find some way to bring you back. If you die, that's a waste of everyone's time."

"But I-"

"We won't stop," said Suki in a tone that booked no argument. "So come back. Live."

Katara found that her eyes were suddenly very difficult to keep open. She closed them and raised her face to the wan sky. "Okay. Okay. I promise."

"Good," whispered Suki, and pulled her almost sister into a hug.

Katara looked at the sunlight that hung above the tree, turned around, and walked down the stairs.

* * *

It was colder. Katara wondered whether this was the realm's equivalent of night, or if Koh's anticipation had caused the cave to drop in temperature. Either way, it appeared to be empty. Maybe he'd gotten bored, or crawled up into the tree. She walked further into the cave. There were openings there. Some with footholds big enough for her to climb. What was up there, anyway? Her hands twitched.

"Dreamer," he said, his voice behind her.

She nearly kicked him in reflex. Instead, her body made a funny kind of spasm. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Do you make it a habit to scare everyone who enters?" she said in an even voice.

"Yes."

She heard his claws click hollowly on the cave floor. He curled around her like a snake around its prey. If she stretched, she would touch him, so she made very sure to keep her arms as close to her sides as possible.

"Me and my friends talked a little outside. About you, I mean. I'm sure you don't mind."

"Not at all," purred Koh. "It's all part of the game."

"Yeah. Well, we ran into someone. Azula. You know her, don't you?"

"The mad princess? Yes, we speak from time to time. She does not know how to see me, though, and refuses to enter my cave. A pity. She has a fascinating face."

Her fingernails dug into her palms. "Not as fascinating as you found Aang's, apparently."

He chuckled. "No. I admit to a personal... distaste of the Avatars. Ever since that _barbarian_ Kuruk, I have found their ilk to be off-putting. I cannot stomach the idea of the Avatars scuttling about the earth, abusing their gifts and preaching peace when humans are so much more entertaining left to their own devices." He tilted his upper half as if listening for something. "It is time. Have you come to me with an answer?"

As he spoke, his face changed very quickly, white face to blue ogre, old man to young woman, Aang to young man, baboon to owl. She saw scores of others as he shuffled through his repertoire, each one smiling like Long Feng at the height of his power in Ba Sing Se.

"You seem confident," she said.

He let out a sinewy chuckle. "Yes. Would you like me to show you the ones who failed to guess?"

"No, thank you," she said, before he could start. "But I'd like you to answer a question for me before I give you my answer. I can do that, right?"

He let his face settle into his old standby, the white one, and placed it very close to hers. His breath made her eyes water. His front claws tickled her hair.

"I suppose it wouldn't be beneath me to indulge you. What would you like to know?"

She swallowed. "How long have you been blind?"

Koh still smiled, but he didn't look like Long Feng anymore. He let his body uncoil and began to climb the wall, not looking at her as he spoke.

"And why do you believe that I am blind, dreamer?"

"You're avoiding the question," she said.

"And you are avoiding mine. I will ask you once more before I grow impatient." He wrapped himself around the stalactite and lowered his front half to face her. Aang's wounded visage appeared on his. "Which is my true face?"

Katara stared back at him.

"You have no face."

Koh stopped moving. He wasn't simply holding still; even the curling smile on his face and his feelers became fixed, as if he were trapped in amber. Nothing happened. The seconds stretched like uncooked dough. Katara could feel her pulse in her temples. Then the stalactite to which he was clinging cracked in half, and began to fall.

Katara couldn't help it. She jumped in surprise, felt the features in her face rearrange themselves as she fled from harm's way. The rock crashed to the floor of the cave with Koh still wrapped around it, sending shards of rock everywhere, some that cut into her retreating back. She could feel warm blood seep through the fabric of her tunic. Warm, multicolored wind that didn't seem to be a part of his fall, but _of_ it, shot past her a split second before a cloud of dust billowed outward from the epicenter, enveloping everything. The entire cave was thrust into mottled darkness.

_Please don't let him have seen me, she thought. Please, please..._

A dry rattling echoed through the dust. Katara could hear something moving, something that had a great many hollow, skeletal legs. She struck blindly away from it, hoping to find the wall before it found her.

"Well done," it said.

It was clearly Koh. The voice was there, even the cadence was there behind his thick tongue, but it sounded as if he had drunk fire. It crackled and wormed. The vertebrae of her spine tingled unpleasantly as he talked. Her hands began to shake.

"Where are you? Where is your pretty face? I want it, I need it, give it to me..."

Her toe hit a pebble. He struck out at the sound, and his grotesque body shot past her. The wind of his passage broke the dust under a shaft of sunlight, and she saw it.

At the end of his body, framed by gesticulating feelers, was a mouth lined with hundreds of sharp teeth that flowed down his throat like spines on a cactus. It hung open as he quested for her, tossing his front this way and that, listening. In the center of that mouth, hung by several glistening black tendons, was one milky blind eye.

_You were right, Toph. He _is_ blind._

The dust covered him again. Ever so slowly, careful not to let her skin scrape against the fabric, she slipped her fingers into her pocket.

"Poor, stupid, naive dreamer," he rasped. "Never suspecting as she wove a web that led the Avatar to my door. Never doubting that Roku's get summoned her out of _love_. As if he had the power. As if I would be ignorant of it."

Her fingers slipped, and the bone fell back to the bottom of her pocket. She shuddered and started over.

_Don't answer him. He's goading you. Just grab the bone, don't let him find you before you have it, don't answer..._

She managed a gentle grip on her weapon. She began to lift it free.

"But we are alone now, you and I. No Fire Lord to warn you or wake you. No mad Princess to interfere. No Avatar to sacrifice himself for you. You, who have stood behind many living shields, precious and protected and ungrateful."

"Don't you dare-!" she shouted, and clapped one hand over her mouth.

There was nothing for it, now. She jammed her hand into her pocket and ran, Koh slipping on the cave floor as he tore after her. His bulk slammed into the wall and he slid up it and onto his back like a turtle-seal. Katara saw his legs wiggling in the air as he struggled to right himself before he was lost in the dust.

"Did you not think it easy?" he panted.

The entire cave shuddered as Koh righted himself. Katara felt sweat pooling on her chest, despite the frigid air.

"Azula's little distractions did make it seem more real, didn't they?"

She flicked her wrist. The curved, sharp bone lengthened until it was as long and thick as her arm. She reached out blindly, trying to find purchase against a wall. If she could get the leverage, maybe she could hurt him.

"She hated that you were here. Said that her brother would be sufficient to attract the Avatar's attention, so why involve you as well? You, who brought her down, an inbred peasant."

She bit her lip. If she could inch closer, she could just reach it...

"Her impotent rage was enchanting. But not so much as the Avatar's when I told him of your infidelity."

She froze, her fingertips on cold stone. No. No. It was just a kiss. _It was just a kiss_. It never went farther than that, ever. She was going to tell Aang as soon as they got back from this, once things were easy between them again. They were going to laugh about it. He was going to tease her about being overprotective. She and Zuko would never... not to him. Her grip on the bone began to slacken.

"Insecure lovers place such value on implication. His face was a poem of it. Your doing."

 _No. Stop it. Concentrate_. She re-secured her grasp on the bone. He was coming very close, now. His stink was thick in the air. She could feel him stirring it as he clicked by her.

"Poor dreamer. Doomed by her lack of self-control."

Was that his mouth moving? The dust began to settle. She could see the shape of his feelers as they quested for her. She lifted the bone like a spear.

"Lost forever to the ones she failed to protect."

She saw his mouth form the words, saw his cataract-filled eye slide into view.

"All her fault."

It pulsed once, twice.

_A demon's heart is in its eye._

"No. It's yours," she said, and stabbed him through the center of his white pupil.

The bone slid into him like a javelin through wet paper. He screamed and jerked backwards, but Katara held on to the rim of his mouth with one hand and forced the bone deeper with her other. His teeth cut into her where she touched, but she didn't care.

She had felt this way once before, when she and Zuko found the false Yon Rha in the flagship of the Southern Raiders. She would have killed him then, exploded his heart in his chest, had she not discovered that he was the wrong man. At that time, she was horrified by how far she'd been willing to go for revenge. This time, she held it like a prayer.

Koh flailed, and she clung. She withdrew the bone so that her hand was out of reach of his teeth, making sure to drag it along the lining of his throat. His flesh split like an orange rind, and he gargled and tried to bite her, but only succeeded in cutting grooves in her weapon.

She pulled the bone free and plunged it into his eye a second time. Thick, milky slime oozed out of it, followed by ribbons of black blood. That was all she saw before his mouth closed. As his teeth came crashing towards her, she yanked the bone away, gripped it hard, and jumped. She ran on impact. The bone, slick with blood, ground against the wall as she skidded to a halt.

Koh reared. His mouth snapped open and shut, inky blood streaming from it like water from a newly dug spring. His feelers stretched to their limit, and a huge tremor shot through his wormlike body. Then, with a wet, gurgling scream, he went taut and crashed to the ground.

She stepped close to him. Not enough for him to strike at her, but close enough that she was sure he could hear her. His mouth was closed around his mutilated eye. His heart? She didn't know. She hoped.

"This is _your_ fault," she said. "You did this. Not me. _And I beat you_."

"...oh?" he said, and was still.

The dust in the air thinned. Katara could see that the entrance of the cave was blocked where the bulk of Koh's stalactite had fallen. So much for getting help.

She shivered. If it was cold before, it was frigid, now. She needed to get out. Needed to find Zuko. Needed to make sure Suki and Ty Lee were okay. Needed... she lifted her hand to scratch her forehead, and saw Koh's blood under her fingernails. Her stomach twisted.

No. Not now. Time to go.

_Now if I were a horrible faceless monster who could climb walls, she thought, Where would I keep my prisoners?_

She remembered Koh climbing up a certain hole in the roof, and made a decision.

Using the bone as a staff, she climbed the rock pile and slipped through that same hole. Sunlight streamed over her like water. A long, rocky shaft lined with tree roots loomed above her. If she squinted, she could see shadows passing over the bright light at the end of it. And though it was faint, she thought she could hear someone calling to her, up there in the light.

She began to climb.

* * *

The feeling that someone was calling to her grew stronger the higher she climbed. But between the increasingly frequent tremors that sent rocks careening past her and thorns that tore at her clothes and her skin, Katara didn't have time to think anything other than _keep climbing_ and _don't stop_. The thorny vines gradually gave way to ones coated in a whitish, sticky substance that provided her with more traction but left her feeling unsettled. Soon, the entire tunnel was coated with it. She had to use her bone to cut herself free more than once before she reached the top. Finally, she hooked her bone onto a thick tree branch and pulled herself free.

She found herself in an expanse of bleached wood covered in what looked like spider-fly web. Fat, lumpy branches protruded outward from the trunk, and from some of them hung heavy silk sacks. Katara cautiously prodded one. Nothing happened. Whatever had been trapped inside it was most likely long since dead. She smoothed it with her hand and turned to see where she was.

She was near the top of Koh's tree. It was very windy. Far, far below, the columns that spanned the canyon were small as slivers of wood. She couldn't see whether or not Suki and Ty Lee were still at the base with Azula. They'd probably all woken up and gone home.

Home. Was Aang awake yet? Was Sokka? Had Suki told him what she'd done?

Another tremor shook the entire tree, and the feeling of someone calling increased. She waited out the earthquake, holding tight to the base of the nearest silk-coated tree branch. As the last tremor died, she saw the sky.

It was mostly the same as she'd ever seen it. Wispy clouds hung below the canvas-colored day. Only now, a thin strip of black was wrapped around the horizon. And it was gradually getting bigger.

The earthquakes, the sky, Koh's last taunt... her jaw went slack.

"Oh, _fu-_ "

A panicked corpse-eater pushed its way past her and ascended the tree. She lost her balance and windmilled, catching a tree branch just before she lost her footing. Several more followed in its wake, screeching to each other in terrified voices. On the ground, a brown wolf as big as a lion turtle galloped towards the jungle and vanished through the entrance to the realm in a flash of light.

This was Koh's Realm. Without him, it didn't exist.

She pulled herself back onto the tree. If Zuko wasn't in one of the silk pods, he was further up the tree. One by one, she cut slits into them with her bone, now the size of a small knife, only to find shriveled husks of skin, dry bones, oily residue, or nothing at all. So she climbed higher, following the trail of silk. Every few branches, she would come across another cluster of pods, and every time she would find the same things.

Another earthquake. She counted the duration in her head. _One Kyoshi two Kyoshi three Kyoshi..._ she got to thirty before it stopped. On the next one, she got to thirty five.

Her path started to thin when she got to a narrow hollow between two broad branches above her head. The silk there felt stickier, wetter. She held the bone in her teeth and wiggled through it, pulling herself onto a broad, shelf-like protrusion of intertwining boughs. Another, stickier trail of silk led her to a complex tangle of old vines.

There he was. The lower half of his body was entirely wrapped in silk, while his arms, torso, shoulders, and neck hung bound in thick ropes of it to the vines. His eyes were covered. Someone had placed a red lotus in his mouth.

"Zuko!" she called.

He didn't answer. She didn't care. She ran to him and began to cut at his bonds, starting with the ones on his neck. He hung limp as she worked, the bone slicing easily through the ropes that had immobilized him for weeks. She lowered him to the ground. His head lolled like a dead bird's. She peeled the silk away from his eyes. They were closed, but she could see the shape of his pupils move under his eyelids, like he was dreaming. She nudged him, but he didn't wake.

All that was left was the flower. She licked her fingers to clean them, spat out the dirt, and eased them between his teeth. The stem of the flower in his mouth continued down the back of his throat. For all she knew, it was rooted in his stomach. She cradled his jaw in one hand to keep it open, and with her other hand, she searched as far down the stem as she could grip and pulled. There was a moment of resistance, then the flower came free. A long, thick root of silk followed, sliding out of his mouth like a watersnake. Its knotted end left his throat with a wet pop.

It was as if someone sunk an invisible rope in the middle of his chest and yanked. His eyes snapped open and he sucked in a first, sharp breath, then fell back to the ground, rolled to his side, and started coughing violently. A bolt of bright red lighting spiked across the half-black sky.

"Shh," she said, rubbing circles on his back. She didn't really know what to say. All she could think was _I can touch him_ and _finally_. "Shh. I've got you. We're getting out of here."

A laugh surfaced in the midst of his coughs, ending them except for a few weak stragglers. He rolled back to look up at her. She'd forgotten how much she liked the color of his eyes.

"I knew you'd find me," he said.

That undid her. She yanked him into such a hard embrace she squeezed the air out of him and he let out a little sound. Zuko wasn't a touchy person by nature, so she was wonderfully surprised when he returned the favor. They sat like that for a long time, Katara so close to sobbing that her eyes hurt, Zuko resting his face in the crook of her shoulder, his breath hot and wet on her neck. Or was it his spirit breath? Whatever. She'd found him. He was safe.

"We need to get you out of here," she said. She held him at arm's length. "We need- are you crying?"

"What? No!" he wiped at his face with the cuff of his sleeve. His eyes were suspiciously red. "I just- I haven't seen daylight in a long time. It's bright."

"You are!"

"So are you," he said with a glare.

"I am?" She touched her face, and her hand came away wet. She laughed, and in spite of the bewildered look on Zuko's face, hugged him again. "Oh Spirits, I missed you. You dorky, rude, arrogant... never, ever..."

"Two years is too long," he murmured. He laced his fingers in her hair. "I'm going to build you a school in the Fire Nation. Some of your tribe left us some little waterbending gifts."

She tightened her hold on his waist. "I'm going to need my own house. With skylights. And a big garden with a fountain. And a really big salary."

He pressed the side of his face to hers. "Princess."

The tree started shaking. Another quake. She covered Zuko's head with her hands to keep falling debris off him, registering that he did the same for her. When it stopped, they were both covered in dry twigs and loose dust.

"Forty-five seconds this time," she said. "They keep getting longer. Can you stand?"

"I think so."

He tried to use the tree for leverage, but there was nothing for him to grip. Katara tutted, grabbed his arm and hoisted him to his feet.

"Good. Do you think you can walk?"

He gave her a pained look. "I can walk. I can do the Dancing Dragon if you want me to. Just give me a minute."

A pair of fat shadow-creatures slid onto the platform and hauled themselves further up the tree.

She shook her head. "No time. We've got to get you out of here before this place implodes." She glanced at the sky. It was three-quarters dark.

"'Implodes?'"

"Um." She rolled her bone in her pocket. "So this is Koh's Realm, right? I kind of... killed Koh."

He stared at her. She hadn't seen that look on his face since Toph, under the influence of enough plum wine to inebriate a komodo rhino, plunked herself in his lap and declared that she'd be joining his army.

"You killed him? You killed _Koh the Face Stealer?_ "

She was starting to get annoyed. "He was trying to kill me! I had to do something."

He shook his head. "That's not-."

There was a third cascade of thunder, and another group of Spirit World denizens scrabbled up the tree. Flocks of scraggly gray birds flew in the same direction, screeching to each other in alarm. It seemed everything that couldn't get to the portal across the canyon was going to the top of the tree. The nine-headed serpent that she saw earlier slithered onto their ledge, cocked some of its heads at them, and continued its progress upward. She got an idea so ridiculous that if Sokka were there, he'd be jealous he didn't come up with it first.

"Come on," she said, pointing to the snake. "I think the way out is up."

He looked at it, looked back at her, and half-smiled. Katara grinned back and broke into a run. She caught up with the snake somewhere around its middle and dug her hands under its shimmering white scales for traction. When it didn't try to buck her off, she reached out and hooked her arm around Zuko's, hauling him up after her.

Riding a giant snake, it turned out, was probably a lot like riding a dragon, if the dragon were flying really close to the ground. She had to grip with her knees lest she fall off every time the snake made an unexpected turn. Wind from its slipstream tore at her clothes and her hair and slapped them against her skin and the sleeve of Zuko's robe. She further entwined her arm with his. The serpent slithered under a low-hanging branch. Katara flattened and it grazed her back. She twisted to see if Zuko made it unscathed and his eyes were so narrowed they were almost closed. She laughed and looked at the sky.

The clouds had formed a vortex around the top of the tree, surrounded on all sides by that encroaching dark. It was close enough now that she could see the edge of it wasn't smooth, but made up of millions centipede-like protrusions that weren't covering the sky, but eating it. Red lightning spiked behind them as they tore it to pieces.

Zuko yanked her back down and everything went dark as the snake entered a smooth tunnel of rock and wood. Katara wondered briefly how a cave could exist so high off the ground, then dismissed it. This was a part of the Spirit World, even if it was dying in front of her. Laws of nature didn't seem to exist here.

Then, snake exited the tunnel. Katara gasped.

They were at the top of the tree. It wasn't a collection of leaves and thin branches as she expected, but a huge, concave basin of meticulously intertwined branches. Hundreds of creatures were gathered there, all of them running or flying towards a flight of stairs that was so steep it was almost vertical. It seemed to be made of glass. Katara shaded her eyes, trying to see where it led, but the top disappeared in the white glare of the sun. With a jolt of joy, she saw the animals or spirits or whatever they were ascending like elephant-rats escaping a burning ship.

"That's it! It has to be!" she said excitedly, twisting around to look at him. "We're going to get out! We're-"

The words died on her tongue. Azula, smiling with all the affection of a serial killer, hooked her hands into hers and Zuko's clothes. She had twigs in her hair and her robe was covered in strands of silk and streaks of dirt and blood.

"Boo," she said, and kicked her legs.

Katara went flying. Azula still holding tight, she hit the treetop with a shocking crash. The knobby branches punched bruises into them as they rolled to a stop. Katara landed belly down, Azula atop her. Before she could free herself, Azula punched her in the back of the head. Her vision sparked. Clenching her jaw, she jabbed at Azula with her elbows, but all of Azula's earlier sloppiness seemed to have disappeared. She grinned and dodged and pushed Katara's face into the wood. Katara tasted blood as her nose began to bleed. She shoved her hands underneath her body and pushed against the ground, trying to get enough leverage to buck Azula off, but Azula simply laughed and jammed her sharp elbow into Katara's kidney.

Then the weight was gone. Katara rolled over to see Zuko pinning Azula's arms behind her as he yanked her to her feet.

"Enough!" he shouted, face so screwed up with rage that he reminded her of his father. "Enough! What are you doing here? What is _wrong_ with you!"

"You sound like mother," spat Azula. "'What's wrong with you, Azula?' 'Stop that, Azula!' 'You're scaring me, Azula!' 'You're a monster, Azula!'"

"Mom would _never_ say that!"

Azula laughed. "You abandon me to rot on a rock with quacks and frauds so you can forget me, like mother did, and you have the gall to defend her in front of me? Traitor!"

Katara stood and pointed at the swirling clouds. "Let it go, Azula! Look at the sky! If you stay here you'll _both_ die!"

"Better to die than to live unwanted!"

The sky exploded with sound as she kicked backwards, hitting Zuko in the knee. He weakened his grip on her arms just long enough that she was able to writhe herself free. She spun around and began to attack him as if she were firebending. He held up his hands, blocking when he had to and dodging when he could, but wouldn't attack. The wind was so strong that their clothes and hair were almost horizontal.

Katara didn't waste time watching. She forced herself to stand and told her aching legs to run, to jump. She tackled Azula around the waist. They rolled as they had before, but this time, Katara ended up on top. She straddled Azula's back and folded her wrists to her spine.

"Get off me you coarse, you repugnant little _piss_ -bender!"

"Don't talk to her like that!" shouted Zuko.

"You're going to defend an inbred barbarian over your own blood? Where's your shame, Zuzu? In the same dung heap as your honor?"

"Shut up!" growled Katara. "Zuko, let's go, we're going to die here if we don't leave."

The light flashed red as the darkness reached the sun.

Zuko shook his head. "Not without her."

Katara stared at him, incredulous. "She can take care of herself, Zuko! We can't! She tried to kill you! She's the one who had you trapped you here!"

He flinched at the revelation, but didn't falter. "She doesn't know what she's doing! She's my sister, I can't-"

Azula shoved Katara off her in the confusion and threw herself at her brother, snarling. He met her blow for blow. She tried to slice his throat with her fingernails, but they were long gone, and Zuko only caught her hand with his own. She growled and shoved him, but he pushed back and sent her sprawling.

"There's no reason to do this!" he shouted.

Azula spat at him and leaped at Katara like a cat. Katara dipped at the waist and knees, arms out for balance, and Azula went sailing over her head. She landed on her feet, one hand dragging across the treetop for resistance as she rode out her momentum. She sprang again, feinting to the right before attacking with a kick from the left. This time, instead of blocking, Katara brought both her arms together, drew them back and fluidly thrust them forward, hands curled into half fists. She struck Azula hard in the stomach. Azula fell backwards with the incongruous grace of a toppled statue, right into the cave they'd ridden through.

Katara stared, horrified at what she'd done. No. She never meant...

Zuko dove for his sister, hand outstretched. He missed. But Azula managed to grab onto an exposed root with one hand. Katara couldn't help but be impressed at her cockroach-like resilience.

"Azula, please," said Zuko, inching towards her. "Don't do this. Come back with me. We'll find Mom, we'll get you better doctors, move you back into the palace, we can be a family again, please..."

She let him take her free hand. She even smiled. Then, she jerked her arm, and sent him plummeting into the cave.

Katara didn't think. She jumped after him. She was only a few seconds behind him as he fell. The cave wall began to level out. They grazed it, then just as Katara grabbed Zuko's outstretched hand, they began to slide. Katara shoved her other hand in her pocket and pulled out her bone.

"Hold onto me!" she shouted, and stabbed the wall.

By some miracle, it caught, and they dragged to a halt, inches from the raised lip of the cave. They were able to perch on it in a more-or-less standing position, though it was precariously narrow.

"You're crazy," panted Zuko, letting go of her and leaning against the wall. "You're a crazy person."

"'Thanks for saving me from splattery death, Katara,' 'Oh, it was no big deal, no need to be so grateful...'"

He ignored her, his lips white with anger. "How could you jump after me like that? You could have _died_."

She craned her neck, trying to spot any way they could climb out, but the wall was smooth as ice.

"I'm _so sorry_ for trying to _save your life_."

He squeezed his eyes shut, looking pained. "Not at the cost of yours. I'm not worth that."

She forced his shoulders against the rock. He stared at her, all the anger on his face replaced with something Katara couldn't identify, something that made her thrilled and apprehensive and livid all at once.

"Yes, you are," she growled. "And don't you ever say that again. You're worth everything."

They looked at one another, hardly breathing. The light outside flashed again and came back dimmer. Slowly, steady but hesitant, Zuko covered her hands with his.

"No," he said. "Never worth your life."

She released him and leaned back on the wall, folding one hand across her hip. "Well you are to me. And that's my choice to make, not yours. Not that it matters, anyway."

"It matters."

He touched the top of her hand. She turned hers around, took his, and squeezed it. He squeezed back.

"There has to be another way out of here," he said.

He carefully turned to face the wall. His toes curled over the edge of the platform, and Katara realized with a guilty start that he was barefoot. He jumped, apparently trying to stick to the wall, but slid back to where he started.

"Do you think you could wake up?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No. I don't know how. But even if I did, I wouldn't leave you."

"Yes, you would, because I'd _make_ you."

"You'd try."

Katara snorted. She couldn't see much of anything below them. Everything was swathed in a sea of reddish fog that she could hardly make out in the darkening light.

"Let me borrow that bone... thing."

"Sure."

She pulled it out of the wall and handed it to him. He stretched high above his head and stabbed it into the stone, then tried to use it to pull himself up.

"Why didn't you tell me about Mai?" she asked.

He slipped when his feet couldn't grip the wall. Undeterred, he picked another spot and tried again.

"I thought I'd tell you when you visited."

"What, you couldn't write me?"

Zuko slid down the wall again, then sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "I wanted to tell you in person. It seemed cheap to put it in a letter."

She raised an eyebrow. "I wrote _you_ about Aang."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I wanted to tell you in person because I was going to ask you if you remembered our agreement from two years ago. But if you'd rather I put it in a letter-"

"Yes. Yes I would," she said, sharper than she meant. "But to answer your question, yes. I do remember."

He smiled at that. Her heart churned like the sea.

He took both her hands in his. "So we failed."

She gave a half-hearted laugh. "Yeah, we did. Look at us. A couple of failures about to die of an apocalypse. I'm sorry. I wish we'd have talked about this sooner."

"Uncle says that the only time we see things clearly is when we look backwards."

"What does that mean?"

"I think it means that it's stupid to blame yourself for things you couldn't have known about at the time. It'd be nice if he said it like that, though."

She laughed, genuinely this time, then re-linked her hand with his. It was hard to see, and the noise of falling debris mingled with the voice of the wind to make a rising roar. She had to raise her voice to be heard.

"Still. I'm sorry. I came here to save you, and now we're both going to die. Even Azula..." she couldn't finish.

"Don't be. It isn't your fault. And if it's with you..." he swallowed. "No one could have gotten as far as you did."

It was so dark, now, and so loud. She couldn't hear anything anymore but the roaring of the wind as the sky swallowed the sun. Zuko said something else to her, she could tell by the way the shadows moved over his lips, but she couldn't make it out. The last thing she saw before the light disappeared completely was his eyes inches from hers as he slipped his hand around her waist and held her tight.

She dug her fingers into him, shoved her hand into his hair and tugged him toward her, hard. She felt his chest vibrate as he said something else, but she couldn't hear anything but another distant crash as something else was destroyed. The wind rose to a painful scream. Then, the ledge they stood on crumbled, and they fell.

All was silence and dark.


	9. Sun

_Hey. Kid. You did good._

Who was talking to her? She was so tired, and it was so dark and cold. Why couldn't he just let her sleep?

_You got that bone I gave you?_

The bone? Oh. It was the shaman.

_Kid, I told you I'm not a shaman. You still got that bone?_

No, Zuko had it.

_Ha! Be right back. Ummi, keep an eye on her._

Ummi? Who was Ummi? Katara tried to open her eyes, but they refused to move. Neither would her arms or legs. With a sick jolt of horror, she realized she couldn't feel Zuko's arms around her anymore.

_Shhh. Calm down. He's fine._

No, something was wrong, something must have happened. There was no way he would have let her go.

_You're right about that one._

A woman's face flashed briefly through Katara's mind. She had long, wavy hair, dark eyes, and a kind smile that curled just enough at the corners to be mischievous as well. Where had she seen that face before?

_Got it! He stuck it in his pocket; can you believe it?_

What, that wasn't a good place to put it?

_Hell no! What if you'd've poked yourself in the thigh? Then I really wouldn't be able to help you._

Help me?

_Yeah, help. The bone wasn't a gift, see? You borrowed it. And now I'm taking it back. So the way I see it, I owe you two boons._

Boons? For what?

_You did me two good turns instead of one. You took Koh out of the picture for a while. Made him understand what the consequences are for playing judge._

So Koh isn't dead?

_Nah, not really. Not forever. His kind tend to come back after a century or two. The world needs them, you know? Gotta have that bit of shadow to keep the balance. Sometimes carrion-eaters like him stick around too long, though. It was about time for him to be reborn. Now it's happening, thanks to you. You even freed my wife while you were at it. That was your choice, too. You didn't have to make Koh give up his faces, but you did. So I owe you twice._

_Now I can't do much. But I can give hints. I can find things that are lost, and bring them to people who can use them. I can hold open doors that would shut._

Like the door between life and death?

_Not exactly. More like the door between moments, or worlds, or into and out of dreams. They're kinda fuzzy on the details, though, so I can tweak the circumstances as long as I don't throw the balance out of whack. See, right now, you and your boyfriend are between all those._

He's not my boyfriend.

_Not yet. So. What can I do for you?_

Bring Zuko's spirit back to his body. Get him out of here.

_Wouldn't expect anything less of you. That's one. What else?_

I don't know. I'm tired.

_Yes you do. You have to choose it, though, like you chose everything else. I can't do it for you._

But life is hard. Life is taking care of people and misunderstanding and secrets that hurt. It's sacrifice and not getting what you want, not really. I'm not sure I want to go back to that. If I stay here, I can sleep. I can rest. I don't have to disappoint myself all the time, or the people I love. I don't have to make mistakes that hurt them. I died to save my friends; isn't that enough?

_You're not being honest._

It was Ummi again.

_What do you remember?_

Remember? She remembered a lot of things. Like how she refused to let Aang grow up. How she agreed to be with him to indulge him. How it all fell apart. How she wanted to be free for so long but fought it when he wanted to end it, because she was afraid. She was afraid to risk what they had, even if it meant making them both miserable. She remembered shame. Cowardice. Guilt. Longing. Hard work. War. How blood felt in Yon Rha's veins.

_What else?_

She remembered her brother's arm around her shoulder as they watched the boats leave. The look in her father's eyes as she embraced him on the stolen Fire Nation ship. The lines on her grandmother's face as she smiled at her husband. Aang showing off to her on the elephant koi. His first breath as she pulled him from the iceberg. His round eyes as they looked into hers. Toph holding aloft her fifth champion belt. Suki laughing as she splashed on the beach, and grinning as she knocked Sokka to the ground, ready for another round. The way Mai smiled at Zuko's coronation. Ty Lee dancing with King Kuei during the Southern Waterbending Academy Dedication. Iroh humming as he arranged flowers. How Jet smelled like dry leaves. The joy she felt when she manipulated her element. How making ice was different than pulling water from the air. Her pride as she watched her first student clumsily raise a waterwhip. The green smell of lichens as they struggled to life in the brief southern spring. The way humidity caressed her skin in the Fire Nation summers. Warm Earth Kingdom mud under her feet in autumn. Lights in the Northern sky on midwinter. The taste of sea prunes and mangoes and palm wine and Zuko's mouth on hers.

_What do you want?_

I want to live.

* * *

"...and a mountain divides them apart... built a path to be together..."

Katara slowly opened her eyes. Sokka sat cross-legged next to her, absently picking at the fur on which they both laid. With effort, she licked her lips. They were sticky and her mouth tasted like week-old rice.

"...can't ever remember the next part... da da da dah..."

"Are you singing?" she asked, her voice hoarse.

"..and di- KATARA!"

He scooped her up and crushed her face to his chest. "You did it. _You did it_. I _knew_ you'd figure it out. Suki said you might not wake up but I _told_ her you'd be fine. See, Suki?"

"That's why I said 'might,' idiot," she said, but she said it with a smile.

"Katara!" shouted Ty Lee. She threw her arms around both of them, sobbing. "I'm so sorry! Azula got me when I wasn't looking and she must have got Suki too 'cause she woke up right after me and- and I'm s- so suh- sorry!"

Katara rubbed circles on Ty Lee's back. "It's okay. We made it, didn't we?"

"We all did," said Suki, pointing to Aang.

He was still asleep, just as he had been when she chased him into Koh's Realm. But his face was back. He looked no different than he did when he slept on Appa. Momo even sat curled at his side. He looked so much like he had when she'd first pulled him out of that iceberg, but different, too. As she watched, he made a face in his sleep and rolled to his side.

She pressed the ball of her hand to her forehead and began to cry. It had worked. Everything she'd done. Finally.

Sokka looked at everyone else in the room with an air of indignance. "Don't stand around! Hug her, _hug her!_ "

Suki and Toph both piled onto them, Toph with a gleeful shout of 'Group hug!' Katara laughed through her tears and rearranged herself to hug everyone at once.

"Hey, Spooky, get over here," called Toph. "It's not called a 'group hug' to be cute."

Mai stood nearby, her hand on the wall. Her face was drawn and she looked paler than usual. Even her normally impeccably-styled hair was loose.

"Did you get him?" she asked.

Katara nodded. Mai's hand slid almost imperceptibly down the wall.

"Yeah," said Katara. "I got him."

"Come on, Mai!" sniffed Ty Lee. "Let the loving arms of your friends heal the wounds in your heart."

"That's beautiful, Ty Lee," said Sokka.

It took all of Katara's self-control not to laugh. Not so for Toph; she snickered. Mai rolled her eyes, but knelt just the same. Katara saw a hint of a smile. For Mai, that was practically singing with joy.

"I'm only doing this because of Ty Lee," she said as she leaned against her aforementioned friend.

"Less justification, more hugs," said Toph, grabbing Mai by the shoulders and pulling her into the pile.

Mai grumbled, but acquiesced. They sat in a squirming tangle of arms and legs, of laughter and sobbing and jokes, and Katara didn't know how she could feel happier.

Then, Aang woke up.

"G- guys?" he said, weakly. "What're you doing here? It's dangerous."

Momo chattered and crawled onto Aang's chest. He butted his head against Aang's chin. Aang scratched him behind his ears, his eyes half-closed and eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Oh. Momo. Huh."

"Aang!" yelped Katara.

Katara disentangled herself from her friends' arms, but Toph got to Aang first. She didn't punch him on the arm like she normally did to show affection or concern. Instead, she grabbed the front of his shirt with both hands, and kissed him full on the mouth.

"Yes!" said Ty Lee, leaping to her feet and punching the air.

Sokka's mouth dropped open. He pointed at them and seemed to be trying to form words, but no sound came out but a strangled gargle. At the same time, Mai stood up very fast and grabbed Ty Lee's arm. She whispered something into Ty Lee's ear that made her blush furiously, and the two left, Mai limping slightly and leaning on Ty Lee for support. Suki followed, a still gaping Sokka in tow.

Katara stood to leave as well. She couldn't say she wasn't really surprised considering how touchy they'd been with each other lately, but that didn't stop her from very much wanting to be somewhere else.

Toph pulled away, not slacking her grip on Aang's front. "Don't you ever go off on your own like that again! What the hell did you think you were doing?! Being noble! First rule they teach you in the army is being noble _gets you killed!_ "

Aang scrambled to sit up. "But I'm fine. I didn't get killed."

"You almost did and that's just as bad!" Toph began to rain punches down on his chest. He winced, but didn't fight her. "Don't you ever, ever- you idiot-"

"Hey." He gently took her wrists, and she stilled. "Hey. I'm here."

Katara closed the door behind them. Pathik was there. With a start, she realized that he hadn't been in the room with them when she woke. She nodded to him, feeling somehow grateful and defiant at the same time. He smiled at beatifically at her, held one hand up, and bowed.

"Well done," he said.

Tension eased from her back. "We couldn't have done any of it without you. Thank you. For everything."

"Bah, I am only an old hermit who drinks too much onion-banana juice. It is people like you and the Avatar who get up from the table and actually change the world."

She shook her head. "Aang changed the world, not me. I mean, I helped, but that's what anyone would have done. We all helped."

Pathik chuckled. She didn't know what was funny, but she gave a hesitant smile all the same.

"Good night, Miss Katara. If you do not forget about this old hermit, visit soon, and often. I would very much like to get to know you during peace."

She nodded. "As soon as I can. I have someone in the Fire Nation I need to visit first."

They bowed to each other again, and he left.

Sokka had been standing behind him. He was still pointing at Aang's door like a wide-mouthed chameleon-frog. Katara grinned, tilted her head towards the door, and shrugged.

"When the hell did _that_ happen?" said Sokka in the voice he used to rail against the limitations of physics. "I thought Toph was asexual!"

"I heard that!" shouted Toph.

There was a muffled thump, and then a bit of floor rose up and whacked Sokka on the ass.

* * *

Katara and the others talked long into the night about Katara's escape from the Spirit World. She had a strange feeling that Aang would have something to say about her method of exit, but he was otherwise occupied, and she had no wish to disturb him. Everyone agreed on that point.

"So I was right, wasn't I?" Sokka said through a mouthful of rice, when she mentioned that Koh had claimed credit for her dreams. "You were there because the bad guys wanted you there. The simplest solution is always the right one."

"But one of the bad guys _didn't_ want me there," she countered. "Um. Bad girl. Whatever. And it turned out there was someone good looking out for me, even if he didn't cause the dreams. So with two out of three I win by default."

Sokka rolled his eyes and flicked a glob of rice at her. She retaliated with a well-applied waterwhip made of her tea. He escalated with a dumpling to the head. Therefore, she wasn't to blame when it erupted into an all-out food fight. Sokka started it, after all.

After all the food had been cleaned up and the dishes washed and put away, Katara found herself sitting, eyes half-closed, looking at the fire, a light blanket draped over her shoulders.

Everyone had gone to sleep, even Appa and Bruiser. Momo, fat from leftovers, slept curled on Appa's head, Ty Lee close by. Sokka and Suki lay together by the fireside. Mai had retired to her room before the food fight, and who knew where Toph and Aang were sleeping (or _if_ they were, as Suki pointed out earlier, much to Sokka's horror).

Katara, however, was nowhere near ready to go to sleep. It probably didn't help that she'd spent much of the night asleep already. That probably explained half of her restlessness. The other half was worry.

Nearly inaudible footsteps approached the fire, and Mai came into view. She still limping a little where Azula had sprained her ankle, despite Katara's efforts to heal it. They'd have to collect more water from the forest pool in the morning.

"Hey," she said. "Mind if I sit?"

"Sure. Want a blanket?"

"No thanks." She knelt next to the fire and held out her hands to warm them. "I came to find Ty Lee, but it looks like she's found another bed."

In her sleep, Ty Lee grabbed a tuft of Appa's fur and snuggled into it.

"Can't sleep?" asked Katara.

Mai shrugged, and fed a twig into the fire.

"I know what you mean," said Katara.

"Ha. You might."

They sat in more or less companionable silence for a while. It occurred to Katara that this was the first time they'd been alone together since the night Mai left for the Earth Kingdom. She remembered her conversation with Ty Lee in the baths. The acrobat had hinted pretty hard that Mai had been up to something other than diplomatic business there. As a naturally nosy person, of course Katara was dying to know. On the other hand, she didn't want to be stuck full of knives. She decided on the subtle approach.

"So, um, stop me if this seems nosy-"

"It already does."

Katara flushed. So much for subtle. "Okay, so it's nosy. So what. You don't have to answer if you don't want to, because I respect that."

Mai tossed another dry twig into the fire. Katara took her lack of communication as assent and plunged ahead.

"What were you really doing in Earth Kingdom?" she asked, very fast.

"I told you. Diplomacy. I kept the price of rice down and got a negotiated a trading deal with the leader Coal Miners' Guild. I went to a party with King Kuei. He proposed an alliance between our countries by way of a political marriage. I turned him down. I went to visit Ty Lee. End of story."

Katara's jaw dropped. "He asked you to marry him?"

Perhaps her tone was too incredulous, because Mai raised an eyebrow at her.

"Sorry. I mean, of course he asked you to marry him. Why wouldn't he?" She thought of Long Feng's cold and sarcastic demeanor. "You're, um, just his type."

Mai smirked. Katara felt weirdly accomplished.

"I don't hate Kuei," she said. "He reminds me of Ty Lee in a lot of ways. They're both naive. They both like big, smelly animals. They both have no filter between their mouths and brains. But I can't see myself marrying him. Being the Earth Queen would be about as boring as being the Fire Lady." She snapped another twig in half and tossed it to the flames. "Besides. I'm already in love with another silly airhead."

Katara began to ask her how she'd found time to get another boyfriend so soon after she dumped Zuko, but then noticed that Mai was no longer looking at the fire. Katara followed her gaze to the sleeping Ty Lee.

She looked back at Mai. Then she looked back at Ty Lee. She held up one finger and opened and closed her mouth.

Mai shrugged. "Childhood crushes seem to be my type."

"Does- does she- have you-?" stammered Katara.

"I told her as soon as I saw her in Kyoshi. We're seeing how things go. It's been nice." Mai tilted her head and raised one corner of her mouth. "What about you?"

"Me?" Katara pointed to herself. "Um, I'm fine with it. I fully support alternative choices. It _was_ kind of a shock but it explains-"

"No, idiot," said Mai with an eyeroll. "You and Zuko."

Katara bit her lip and tried not to look too guilty. "Is it- I mean, are you-"

"I wouldn't have brought it up if I didn't want to talk about it."

"Oh. Right." She hugged her knees. "I don't know. He's Fire Lord. He's supposed to marry a Fire Nation girl. Not that I'm thinking about marriage at this point," she added, coloring. "It's just, you know, what kind of future are we going to have if we do get together and things get serious? What if the Sages object? What if your people don't accept me?"

"Political marriages tend to involve foreign alliances. They'll get over it."

Katara's voice rose in anxious pitch. "But what will my people think? The Fire Nation took away everything we had for a hundred years. Even now, five years after the war, half of them won't trade with any Fire Nation ships that come through. Community is everything in the Water Tribe. If I get cast out-" she swallowed. "They're my family, Mai. I really, _really_ like him, but if I get cast out, will that be enough?"

"Do you think they would?"

"Yes. No. I don't know." She buried her face in her arms. "I thought I'd be happy now that I don't have to worry about hurting Aang or- or you. And in some ways I am, but I'm also not. It feels like I've swallowed a barking toad and it's croaking in my stomach. It doesn't make sense."

Nearby, Sokka muttered in his sleep. Katara bit her tongue in surprise. Had he overheard her? It was okay telling Mai these things because she was a girl and not related to her, but Sokka? Not ready. Definitely not ready. Sokka scratched his cheek, rolled over and began snoring.

"You're scared?" said Mai, in a low voice. "Tough. That's how love works. It's scary. But if you don't try, and something happens that makes it so you can't ever try, all you'll have is regrets."

She poked at the fire with a long stick. A shower of sparks sprang up, illuminating her placid face.

"I lived most of my life half-asleep. Doing my duties. Visiting my family. Being a good daughter. Being Azula's friend. Being a good girlfriend. I wasn't even planning on saying anything to Ty Lee when I broke up with Zuko. Then one second he was asking me if I liked this stupid-looking flower, and the next he was dying. It was like being slapped awake. You can't sit around and wait for things to happen to you. Life's too short for that. If people have problems with what you want, tell them to shut up. Then, prove them wrong."

Mai stood and smoothed her robe. The small fire cast orange, yellow, and black shadows on her face, which hid her eyes in dark color. Katara couldn't remember her ever saying so much at one time.

"I'm going to bed," said Mai. "If Ty Lee wakes up, tell her I'm in my room. She can join me if she wants."

Katara closed her mouth, which she hadn't realized was hanging open. "Right. Um, I will."

Mai began to walk away. As she watched her back come into view, Katara realized she couldn't just let her go like that. Not after all she'd said.

So instead, she said the first thing that came to mind.

"I hope things work out with you and Ty Lee," she blurted.

Mai paused, and looked over her shoulder.

"They will," she said.

Then she left. Katara had more to think about now than before she'd shown up at the fire. She watched it dwindle down to coals before she was able to fall asleep. But when she did, as the first light of dawn turned the horizon pale pink, she didn't dream.

* * *

"Hey, Aang?"

Aang looked up from the scroll he'd been reading, and frowned.

It was the day after their return from the Spirit World, and she'd tried without luck to find a way to be alone with him all morning. First, Sokka had insisted on cooking breakfast for everyone, and then Toph had been weirdly insistent on being wherever Aang seemed to be. It took an entire day of Katara sending people off on random supply excursions for she and Aang to be the last ones left on the mountain. And even then, she'd only gotten rid of Toph by reminding her that she hadn't practiced her magma-bending for the day.

Finally, here he was, alone in Pathik's room. She watched as he eyed the nearby open window. Then he closed his eyes, sighed, and began to roll up the parchment.

"Hi," he said. "What do you want?"

She flinched. Even in the worst of times, Aang hadn't been cold to her. He'd been fiery, he'd been sullen, he'd pretended nothing was wrong, and he'd even broken things in temper, but he'd never treated her like a stranger.

Well. She wasn't going to let him shut her out after working so hard to find him all day. She closed her eyes, let out a short breath, opened them, and said it before she lost her nerve.

"I wanted to talk to you about what Koh said."

Aang stuffed the scroll onto a shelf full of other ones. "There's nothing to talk about."

"There's plenty to talk about!" she insisted. "I don't know what Koh told you, but you don't understand what-"

"You cheated on me," he said. "You didn't tell me. I get it."

"I never had a chance to tell you! You didn't talk to me for a year, remember?"

There was a beat. He glared at her.

"You should have told me when it happened."

She opened her mouth, then closed it. "All right. That's fair. Maybe I should have told you back then. But what would it have been like if I did, Aang? Things were already so awkward between us."

"I don't know what it would have been like because you didn't give me the chance to figure that out for myself."

There was a long pause. Aang stared at the floor, his arms folded across her chest, and Katara couldn't stop fidgeting with her hands. She hated that their carefully repaired friendship had been so easily destroyed by one stupid secret. She hated even more that it had nearly cost Aang his life. She wished she knew a way to put it into words how much she regretted not telling him the night before their disastrous trip to Koh's Realm.

"I'm sorry," she said, instead. "It was only a kiss. A drunken, impulsive kiss that both of us regretted and decided to forget about for the sake of our relationships. I thought I was doing the right thing by keeping it a secret. But I did both of us a disservice."

He shrugged irritably, and didn't answer her. Momo, curled up on the windowsill, chattered in his sleep. Distant voices carried up through the window from the courtyard below. It sounded like Sokka and Suki were back from the village.

"That's all, I guess," said Katara. "See you later, Aang."

"Wait," he said.

She stopped in the doorway. "Yes?"

He looked at her, and the angry lines around his mouth were gone.

"I'm probably going to be mad for a while," he said. "But I get it. I had a long talk with Toph last night, and she said a lot of things that made sense. Like when people aren't happy, they do dumb things. Really dumb things."

She bit her lip to keep from saying anything rash. "Go on."

"And I figured something out. We weren't happy. I thought we were, but we weren't. We weren't happy for a year or two, maybe. But even though things were rough and all this resentment was building up, you chose to forget about the kind of life you could have with someone else, and you tried to work things out with me. You took me aside, talked to me, and tried to fix things. You picked me, whatever reasons you did it for. That means a lot to me in a weird way."

Her eyes pricked. "Oh, Aang."

"So, um," he rubbed the back of his head. She could see the cut from Azula's wolf still on his jaw, and knew that it would probably be there forever as a scar. "Thanks for that. Thanks for picking me."

"I'm sorry," she repeated, and stumbled towards him, arms up. "Sorry."

"Okay," he said, and hugged her tight.

* * *

They started their journey West the next day. Originally, Katara planned to make her way back to the Fire Nation by herself, but everyone put their foot down and insisted on accompanying her. It had been a long time since they were all in one place, reasoned Sokka, and he sure as hell wasn't going to let such a perfect opportunity to throw a huge party slip by. Ty Lee and Toph were thoroughly on board after that, and where Toph went, Aang was extremely eager to follow. Even Mai seemed passingly interested in the prospect. When Katara insisted that there was no way Zuko would let them throw a party after being in a coma for a month, Toph reminded everyone exactly who was overseeing the Fire Nation while his nephew was indisposed, and Katara gave up.

Oh well. It wasn't like she was going to have a chance to be alone with Zuko, anyway.

Bruiser followed them as they flew towards the Earth Kingdom's Western shore. Every time they landed, she and Appa would disappear somewhere, presumably to do whatever it was that Sky Bison and Badgermoles did when they were in love. It was a week, therefore, by the time they got to the sea.

Katara's stomach seemed to tie itself into new and complex knots every day. Even the letter Iroh sent announcing that Zuko had woken up only eased her anxiety a little. What if Zuko didn't remember anything? What if Azula had somehow managed to worm her way into the Spirit World again and done... something. Maybe found another Spirit to start the whole thing over again. She wished she could speed up time and be in the Fire Nation immediately, but there was no stopping the amorous adventures of two huge and potentially dangerous animals.

Only Mai seemed to understand the reasons behind Katara's increasing nerves. Every night, after everyone else had gone to bed, the two of them would sit together, not talking. Those were the only times during their trip that Katara felt like things might turn out okay.

* * *

The capital of the Fire Nation winked on the horizon. It was still very small, but that didn't stop Katara's heart from threatening to wriggle out of her chest at the sight of it.

"What's up, Katara?" asked Ty Lee. "Your aura's gone all splotchy."

Katara clutched the edge of Appa's saddle. "Nothing, nothing," she said in a forcibly breezy voice that came out more like a squeak. "I'm great! Wow, we're really close, huh?"

"I know! It's pretty exciting. I can't wait to hit the market. It's going to be so cool to see what the new fashions are like. We don't get anything in Kyoshi that isn't, like, three years out of date. Don't tell Sokka, though," she lowered her voice to a dramatic whisper. "Or Suki. They think the tunnel to the mainland is like, the best thing ever. Only it's so muddy all the clothes arrive... well, muddy!"

"Maybe they should hire some waterbenders to keep the mess under control," said Mai, leaning back on the saddle with her eyes closed.

"Do you think the earthbenders would be okay with that?" said Ty Lee, tilting her head. "They make an awful lot of money on the route and I don't think they'd be willing to share."

"Better for the clothes to be clean."

"But the other Warriors say..."

Mai and Ty Lee fell into a quiet argument that felt extremely familiar. Katara, desperate for any kind of distraction, saw that Aang was in the middle of describing his plans for the future. She tried to focus on what he was saying to give her friends some privacy.

Her friends, she repeated to herself. It was strange, and a little confusing sometimes, but there it was. She'd always known she'd like Ty Lee for her breeziness and openness, but she thought it'd be a hot day at the South Pole before she and Mai got along. Now, she found herself making plans to go out for drinks with her, just to talk. The prospect was strangely exciting.

"...then I think I'm going to reopen the temples, starting with the Eastern one," Aang was saying. "Pathik says he thinks he's seen wild sky bison once or twice. Can you believe it?"

Appa roared and started to run through the sky.

"That's right, buddy!" He patted Appa's flank. "It makes perfect sense! Momo's line survived a hundred years at the Southern Temple, so why not Appa's? It's where all the sky bison were born when I was a kid. I can't wait to get there and start looking. Maybe while I'm at it I can even learn some more about spiritbending from Pathik."

Sokka made a face. "That's disgusting. Why do you want to learn more about taking away people's bending?"

Suki lightly punched him on the shoulder. "I can't believe people think you're smart."

"What? I was only saying-"

Aang laughed like a kid on a penguin-sled, apparently high on his excitement. "I'm going to use it to try and make more airbenders! See, if spiritbending can take bending away, then it should work in reverse, right? I can _give people the ability to bend_! I can make more airbenders!"

"Good," said Toph, "'Cause I really don't have the hips to have a ton of flying kids."

Aang dissolved into a coughing fit, and Sokka looked horrified. Toph began to cackle, and even Katara laughed. Unfortunately, Sokka's suffering was quickly curtailed by the arrival of a messenger hawk.

"HAWKY!" he shouted. He held out his arm, and the huge bird lighted on it. "Ow, ow, it hurts, ow, ow-"

Momo arched his back at the unwelcome arrival of his one time nemesis and the two began to chase each other over Sokka's head. Aang had to airbend the message out of the tube in order to read it. It landed in his outstretched hand.

He shook his head, grinning as Sokka threw his arms over his head. "I'd never have believed it if not for Momo."

"You know," said Katara, "Iroh did say they found him on that river. The one with the fishing village, remember?"

"You mean Hawky came back and we weren't there?" said Sokka, looking distraught. "Hawky, that's so sad! I always knew you would try to come ba- ouch!"

He yanked back his hand as Hawky nearly took it off in his efforts to maim Momo.

"What's the letter say?" asked Toph.

Aang unscrolled it.

"Dear Everyone," he began.

"Read it in his voice!" Toph demanded.

Aang chuckled, cleared his throat, and began to read the letter in an ear-splittingly terrible rendition of Iroh's accent.

_Thank you for your last letter! When I received news that I was to expect seven guests instead of one I was delighted! I had the steward start planning the feast right away. My nephew is excited as well. He accused me of wasting the crown's valuable resources on a party, but I could tell that he was only trying to save face for the Ministers. Though he is still having trouble walking, he has already had several meetings with them. He shouts a great deal, so I'm sure he's very happy._

__

__

_He has asked after all of you; one of you several times. I think you can guess who I'm talking about!_

Luckily for Katara, all eyes were on Aang, so no one saw her turn a distinct shade of dark red.

_I've already aired out the guest rooms. Hurry and arrive! My old neck is getting tired from looking at the sky all day long._

__

__

Yours,

_Iroh_

"Excellent!" said Toph. "I knew there'd be a party. Well, a feast, but same thing. Gramps throws great feasts. I'll bet he even got some grass made special for you, TT."

Aang lowered the letter and grinned at her.

"Aw, grass is okay if you eat the right kind. There's this grass that tastes like lemons you can get in the Southern Fire Nation. Want me to find you some?"

Toph made a face. "No. A world of no."

"Who do you think jerkbender's been asking about?" said Sokka.

Behind his back, Suki rolled her eyes. And behind her, Katara saw that the once distant capital had gone from tiny to extremely large. Her heart moved somewhere to the region of her stomach.

"We're almost there," she breathed. " _We're almost there_. Do my loopies look okay? I don't look too windswept, do I?"

"You look like you've spent the last day riding on the back of a flying bison," said Mai. "He'll love you."

"He?" demanded Sokka. "He? Who's 'he?'"

Katara shot Mai a murderous look. Mai only smirked. Katara decided right then and there that all the affection she'd built up over the last week was definitely wasted.

"Look, Sokka!" said Suki, grabbing her boyfriend and pointing him in a seemingly random direction. "I think they're using your new balloon designs!"

"They're 'dirigibles,' not balloons," he said in a strained voice.

The sky above the capital's harbor was indeed dotted with huge balloons draped in canvas of a variety of colors, not just the traditional Fire Nation red. She also saw myriad Earth Kingdom greens and browns, and even some Water Tribe blues. The picture would have been complete if not for the absence of Air Nomad orange and yellows. Large, enclosed baskets that seemed to be full of passengers hung underneath each one. Some of the ones with sturdier walls and few windows even looked like they were made to transport cargo.

"Wow, Sokka," gushed Ty Lee. "You designed those?"

"Yeah," he said, trying to look casual by leaning on his elbow. He slipped, and the effect was ruined. "Ahem. Yes. Yes, I thought it'd be nice if my dirigibles could be available to anyone, not just the military, so I sent a few *coughhundredcough* specs out with some of the merchants that come through the tunnel. I got a great price for them, too. I'm not surprised they caught on so fast. After all, the design is pretty- NO HAWKY DON'T GO!"

The messenger hawk ignored him. He took off and fell into a long, spiral glide, followed by a chattering Momo. Appa gave a great grunt and began to follow them. A plaza paved with well-matched gray stones came into view. If Katara squinted, she could see a very familiar-looking shape waving up at them. One with prominent sideburns.

"We're here!" squeaked Ty Lee.

"Appa, yip yip!" said Aang, and cracked the reins.

Appa landed in front of Iroh, sending up a tuft of air that caused him to clutch his robes. Toph was the first one on the ground.

"Gramps!" she shouted, barreling towards him with her arms out.

She crashed into him and flung her arms around his ample waist. He made an exaggerated expression of pain and lifted her off her feet.

"Miss Bei Fong! My poor old back and I have sorely missed you!"

"Put me down and I'll crack _all_ your vertebrae," she promised.

He dropped her, and true to her word, she looped her arms around his lower back and gave it a sharp crack.

"Oof!" he said, eyes watering. "Nothing compares to a good hug."

"Iroh, my man!" shouted Sokka. "High five!"

Iroh held out his hand in response to Sokka's raised one, and Sokka looked sheepish for a second before reaching down to grasp it.

"Welcome, everyone," Iroh said, beaming. "It is my great pleasure to invite you to a feast not only of the appetite, but of the senses! Tonight, we..."

"Where's Zuko?" whispered Katara as Iroh launched into a speech about what kinds of foods they were going to be eating that night.

Mai flicked her eyes toward Katara. "Probably still in bed."

"Oh," said Katara. Her heart resumed its normal place in her chest. "I was kind of hoping he'd be here."

"Guess you should slip away while we're distracted then."

Before Katara could answer, Mai loudly deadpanned, "Wow. Is that a dragon over there?"

Iroh stopped mid-sentence, and Aang, Sokka, Suki, and Ty Lee all looked in the direction Mai pointed.

It was then and there that Katara decided her affections for Mai would never, ever waver again. She ran across the plaza, the conversation of her friends fading as she ran.

"I think I see it!" shouted Sokka.

"Well, I don't see anything," said Toph.

"You've got to squint it you- oh, haha, very funny," said Sokka, distantly.

Katara blazed up the steps. Where was her anxiety now? She burst through the front doors in much the same fashion as she had when she'd arrived nearly a month ago, demanding to see to Zuko. An officious-looking man in an overlarge hat tried to melt in the wall as she tore by him. Her nervousness was still there, to be honest. It made her stomach jolt with every step she took. It just wasn't as loud, because it had been overwhelmed with a single-minded desire to see him, to know once and for all that he was okay, and damn the consequences. She pulled a sheaf of water out of the air and bent it into a rope, using it to push open all the sliding doors that got in her way. Some of the guards waved at her as she ran by, and one cowered. He looked vaguely familiar, but she put it out of her mind. She was almost there.

Finally, she skidded to a halt outside his door. There wasn't a guard in sight. Did that mean he'd been moved to a different room? Her heart crept up to her throat. If he wasn't there, she'd have to ask someone where he was, and she very much did not want to do that. Her hands began to shake.

Wait. This was ridiculous. Here she was, Katara Water Tribe, the youngest Master in who knew how long, too scared to open a door. Hadn't she taught the Avatar how to waterbend? Hadn't she subdued Azula on the day of Sozin's Comet? Hadn't she faced down Koh, alone?

Slowly, she opened the door and crept inside.

There he was. He sat up in his stupidly huge bed, piles of papers and scrolls spread all over his sheets. He looked up, and when he saw her, he dropped the paper he was holding. It drifted to the floor.

She stared at him. Her mouth was dry and her mind was apparently on temporary holiday.

"Katara," he said, in a cracking voice.

"Hi," she said back.

His slightly shaggy hair hung down the center of his forehead, like it always did. She longed to stick her hands in it.

"I told the guards to take a break if they heard you coming. I didn't want them..." he trailed off.

"Right."

"They can get nosy."

"Understandable."

"Thirsty? I could get someone to get you a drink."

"It's fine. Not thirsty."

They stared at one another for a moment longer, neither saying a word. Then, he raised one hand. She ran to him before he could lift the other and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and his waist. All his papers crinkled underneath her. He pressed his face to her neck, pulling her close with surprising strength for one who had spent most of a month sleeping. Probably brought on by desperation, she thought, as she gave into her own and buried a hand in his thick hair.

He pushed her until she was at arm's length, both his hands on her shoulders.

"You're amazing," he said.

"You remember?"

"Everything."

He draped his hand over the back of her neck, tugged, and kissed her, hard. Her heart seemed to be everywhere at once. Her lower lip slipped between his teeth and he bit down. Then she was on the bed before she realized that her legs had worked. She was on top of him, or he was on top of her, and his hands seemed to be all over her body as they rolled over a sheaf of half-written letters and scattered them on the floor.

Wait. Letters. She pulled away, frowning. Her hair hung down over his face.

"I just remembered. You said you had something to tell me about Mai in the last letter you sent me. You were being _cryptic_."

He stared up at her, incredulous. "Can it wait?"

She frowned harder. "No."

He groaned. "Seriously? You're getting hung up about this now?"

She sat up so fast she would have put a springboard to shame. "I am not getting 'hung up' about this. I was really suspicious of Mai for a while because of what you wrote."

He peeked one gold eye at her through slitted fingers. "You thought Mai put me in a coma?"

"Only because you were being so mysterious in your letters!"

"How was I supposed to know I'd get poisoned by some-"

"A-hem."

They both stopped mid-argument and looked at the door. There, flanked by two extremely embarrassed-looking Royal Guards, were every single one of their friends.

Mai was smirking. Ty Lee had her hands clasped under her chin, her eyes sparkling in delight. Suki and Iroh were actually exchanging a high five. Sokka was slowly turning from white to purple as he pointed at them, gargling incoherently. Aang didn't look completely thrilled, but he was smiling. It probably helped that Toph firmly held his hand in hers.

Toph, of course, was grinning like a saber-toothed moose-lion.

"You guys are so busted," she said.

"Um... surprise?" said Katara.

"Not really," said everyone but Sokka.

The sound of Zuko's hand hitting his forehead was heard all the way down the hall.

* * *

Dinner was just as great a feast as Iroh promised. There were piles of scallops and fish and oysters, bowls and bowls of saffron rice, an entire stuffed picken with lemongrass to garnish, red, green, and yellow curries swimming with fresh vegetables, and an entire egg-custard tart made specifically for Aang. This didn't stop Toph and Sokka from surreptitiously filching bites, but Aang seemed happy enough.

Once the meal was over, everyone sat in piles over the cushion-lined floor. Even Zuko had gotten surly enough with his doctors to be allowed out of bed in a kind of wheeled chair. Katara leaned against his legs, rather enjoying the way Sokka turned different colors every time he looked in her direction.

"...and they say she is settling in nicely," Iroh finished. He took a sip from his teacup and set it down on the table. "I'm sorry to say that it will take an inquiry to discover who it was that smuggled her orders off Coal Island."

"It wasn't Ozai supporters," said Zuko. "They'd have staged a coup and killed me if they'd known I was helpless."

Iroh grimaced. "I do not like to entertain the idea that there are people misguided enough in the Fire Nation to want Azula on the throne."

"You shouldn't underestimate her powers of personal magnetism," said Mai. "She can be really convincing."

"Hm. Perhaps when I visit her tomorrow, I will try and arrange for more stoic caretakers," said Iroh. "Ty Lee, Mai, would you like to join me?"

Ty Lee took Mai's hand and squeezed it. "We'll think about it."

"I'll go with you," said Zuko.

Toph set down her goblet with a loud thunk. "Sparky. Did that coma make you crazy?"

"No," he said, glancing at Katara. "I just know how she feels."

Aang climbed on the table, a glass in his hand. "Sorry to interrupt, but I have an announcement to make."

"Oh no," muttered Sokka. "I'm not ready for this. Suki, hold me."

"Shh!" she hissed.

"Ah, to be young and to feel the caress of new love," said Iroh. "Why, I remember..."

He launched into a story about a metalworking girl he knew in Ba Sing Se as a young man. Katara watched him gesture as he spoke. She noted the lines around his eyes, the warmth in his smile, and the way his sideburns framed his face. She found herself wondering for the second time whether he was the man in her dream. If not for him, she doubted she'd have known where to strike when Koh bore down on her in his cave. A demon's heart is in its eye. Did he know how much he'd done for her? She'd have to ask him about it sometime when they were alone.

"...and that is when I first learned that first love does not so much gently touch as is it does brutalize."

"That was... informative," said Aang, his glass still raised. "Um. Why am I standing here? Oh! Right!" he cleared his throat. "As of today, I am officially declaring the Eastern Air Temple reopened! And I'm inviting all of you to come live with me!"

"Take your time deciding, though," said Toph. "We're going to need some time to ourselves for a while."

Sokka's head hit the table and he whimpered.

"Can I bring the Warriors with me?" asked Suki.

"Suki!" Sokka shot up. "You're not seriously considering-"

"We'll need someone to figure out a way to build a road up the mountain," said Aang in a carefully casual tone. "Too bad you're not coming. Guess I'll have to-"

"I'm in," Sokka interrupted, his hands folded in a business-like manner. "We're going to need earthbenders. Lots of them. And some bricks, if we want to keep erosion from getting out of hand. Do you think you could get Teo in to help? We'll need our own places, too. Is someone writing this down?"

Katara stood as nonchalantly as she could and leaned so her lips were close to Zuko's ear.

"Want to get out of here?" she whispered.

" _Yes_ ," he whispered back.

She grabbed the back of his chair and pulled him away from the table. It was unsurprisingly difficult to sneak out of a well-lit party pushing someone along in a chair, even if the chair had wheels. Luckily for her, Sokka was proving plenty distracting, as Ty Lee, Toph, and Suki fell over one another laughing at his increasingly outrageous demands.

Aang looked at her as she pushed Zuko towards the door. For a tense moment, she thought he was going to ask her were she was going. But then he shrugged. With a soft smile, he shook his head. It wasn't permission, because Katara didn't need that. It was something different. 'I'm going now,' maybe, or 'Are you okay?' But with Aang's smile, Katara knew she shouldn't have worried. It was Aang. They understood each other.

* * *

Katara rolled Zuko to the balcony. They watched the dark orange sun slide closer to the horizon for a while. A flock of black birds flew in front of it, casting them both in mottled light. A happy shriek echoed from the nearby dining room.

"So," she said.

"So," he repeated.

She burst out laughing, and he looked up at her and gave a bare smile.

"What?"

"Nothing. It's just so weird, isn't it? How things loop back on one another. We were here three years ago and we said the same thing. Remember?"

"I remember. I could stand, then."

"Don't worry," she ran her knuckles across the back of his neck. "You'll stand, soon. Your muscles are just atrophied. It's probably not even that bad, considering how hard you hugged me earlier. You shouldn't have been able to do that."

He smirked. "Give me your hand."

"Er? Sure."

She held out her hand and he gripped her wrist instead. He then pushed on the arms of his chair. Catching on, Katara grabbed him with both hands, planted her feet, and pulled. His body shook with effort as he forced his shaky legs to straighten. Then, by their combined efforts, he stood.

"Now it's exactly like that time," he panted.

"Except," she said, leaning him against the balcony railing. "It's not night. And you're not all grumpy and angsty."

"And we're not dating other people."

She paused.

"No." She set her hands on the railing on either side of his. "We're not."

He stared down at her. She thought that she could see a bit of color in his cheeks, but it may have been a trick of the slowly fading light. He swallowed.

"Listen. Things are going to change soon. The war's been over for five years, but there's still a lot that needs to be fixed here in the Fire Nation. There are a lot of old laws that need to be revised or overturned. The economy is recovering but it's still a mess."

"Zuko."

"If you want to stay here, it won't be easy. But I'd really like it if you'd consider being with me for a while. Just to see how things go. You can leave any time you want. Not that you need my permission!" his eyes widened. "I just want to make it clear that I respect what you want in life and that I don't want to take you away from your family. Or what you love doing."

" _Zuko._ "

"I'm serious about- huh?"

He looked back at her, and there was definitely some color in his unscarred cheek. That was how she liked him best, she thought. Not at all like the suave heroes in Ty Lee's romance scrolls.

"Hush."

She lightly tugged at the back of his neck and brought his lips to hers.

It was different from their other kisses, she thought, as he leaned into her, somehow without compromising his balance. She parted his lips with her tongue. It didn't taste like a stolen confection flavored with wine to be consumed in heady secrecy. It was like fresh fruit, picked from a tree she'd grown herself.

He pulled back and slowly ran his fingers over the back of her neck. She shivered.

"I think I could get used to this," she said.

He ran one knuckle down her cheek. "I couldn't."

Her heard did that funny thing again where it forgot to beat. She grabbed his hand and pressed it to her chest.

"When do you think you'll be able to walk?"

He slid one hand around her waist and kissed her on the neck. "Tomorrow if I can."

"Mmm. Good. Because I've decided that you need an vacation. A real vacation," she said in reaction to his raised eyebrow. "Not one you spend sleeping."

"The Fire Lord can't take vacations. Not when he's already been missing for a month."

She raised one finger and smirked. "It's a good thing the Fire Lord already has a trusted regent looking out for his kingdom. Maybe he can make one or two public appearances with his charming friend from the Southern Water Tribes, and then maybe he can be called away to some ceremony that he can't get out of not attending. Say, the reopening of the Eastern Air Temple?"

The corners of his mouth twitched upward. "You're devious."

"I'm choosing to take that as a compliment."

"Good."

He began to kiss her neck again, which made her legs and arms come out in pleasurable goosebumps. Her lips parted as he began to work his way under her collar.

"Aren't... you going to ask me... where I want to go?"

"No."

He nipped her and it took all of her self control not to dig her fingernails into his back.

"Ask me. You'll like it."

"Why don't you just tell me?"

He punctuated his question with another kiss to the place where her neck met her shoulders. Her toes curled.

"I think we should go and find your mom."

His arm went stiff. He leaned back a little. She rested one arm on his chest and looked at him as he seemed to stare at something in the courtyard.

"My agents have been looking for her for years," he said. "They haven't found a trace of her."

"No one is as good as you at finding people. You chased us for months, remember?"

He traced her cheekbone with his thumb. "And I always found you."

"You always found us," she repeated, and smiled. "So let's go. Let's leave things to Iroh for a while. You deserve a chance to find her yourself."

The sound of a Tsungi horn being tuned wafted from the dining room. Iroh had hinted that he was going to make tonight a Music Night, and it looked like he'd actually followed through. She could also hear a series of enthusiastic banging which could only mean that Toph had gotten hold of the djembe.

Zuko rolled his eyes at the noise, but couldn't disguise the smile that threatened to overtake his forced scowl.

"Do you think they'll miss us?"

"Sure they will," she put her hands on his shoulders and his slipped to her waist. "And we'll miss them. But I'm tired of waiting for things to happen. Let's make them happen. Let's find your mom and bring her back."

"No more waiting," he agreed. "Whatever happens, we make it happen."

She grinned. "So. Partners?"

"Always," he said. "It's always been you."

She kissed him again, and he matched her for every move. All over the capital, the evening lanterns were lit.

_It's a long, long way from Ba Sing Se, but the girls in the city they look so pretty..._

* * *

A week later, the Dragon of the West assured the people that their Fire Lord had been called to attend the opening of the Eastern Air Temple, and that he would return as soon as the festivities concluded. Iroh had been looking forward to attending the party and returning to his tea shop, but took his extended responsibilities in stride. The young people needed their time together. And, after all, he had been promised a wonderful gift upon their return. He hoped it was tea.


End file.
